ع
A drone strike by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces hit a gathering of displaced civilians in the Abu Shandi area of Blue Nile state on Friday, killing 41 people including eight children and many women while wounding dozens more, according to the rights monitoring group Emergency Lawyers. The group, which tracks violations throughout the conflict, said the attack targeted a camp for those fleeing earlier violence near the border with Ethiopia. No immediate comment came from an RSF spokesperson contacted by multiple news outlets about the allegations.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expressed horror at the reports of the strike, which it said struck an area already under sustained assault in recent weeks that had displaced thousands and exposed many others to severe risk. Denise Brown, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, stated that condemning these senseless killings is essential but there must also be accountability for this flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law. She added in the statement that as each day goes by in this war the world continues to accept the suffering of the people of Sudan.
Emergency Lawyers attributed the strike to the RSF, one of the main warring parties in Sudan, and noted that initial assessments pointed to most victims being women and children at the site. The paramilitary group has its headquarters in Darfur and maintains control over parts of southern and western Sudan, according to assessments by conflict observers. Both the RSF and the Sudanese army have faced repeated accusations of launching drone attacks on civilian targets during the fighting.
Sudan’s civil war broke out in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between the regular army and the RSF erupted into open combat in Khartoum and then spread across the country, a conflict monitor from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project has documented. ACLED figures show the war has killed at least 150,000 people although aid groups believe the actual death toll is substantially higher because many fatalities go unrecorded. The United Nations places the number of displaced at more than 12 million, creating what humanitarian agencies have called the world’s largest displacement and humanitarian crisis.
Blue Nile state has experienced repeated bouts of intense fighting between the two sides since the war began, exacerbating an already dire situation for civilians caught in the crossfire, according to UN humanitarian updates. The RSF controls significant territory in the west while the army holds much of the central and eastern parts of the country, a division that has complicated efforts to deliver aid or broker cease-fires. Emergency Lawyers has documented abuses by all parties to the conflict since its outset in 2023.
The strike comes amid broader international concern over the conduct of both sides, with the UN repeatedly warning that attacks on displaced populations violate international humanitarian law. Humanitarian agencies have struggled to reach affected communities in Blue Nile because of ongoing insecurity and access restrictions, UN reports have shown. Accountability measures remain limited despite calls from rights organizations for independent investigations into such incidents.
