MORE than 1,000 civilians in Sudan have been killed in drone strikes in the first five months of 2026, according to the United Nations.
The death toll is due to a “sharp” increase in the use of drone warfare in the country’s vicious civil war, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Volker Turk said in a speech on Monday.
“In Sudan, the horrific conflict has expanded and escalated, marked by a sharp increase in the use of drone warfare,” he told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
On top of documenting more than 1,000 civilians being killed in the first five months of this year, the UN office also reported “rampant” levels of sexual violence, including rape.
The war in the African nation started in April 2023 when a rivalry between Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, exploded into war. The conflict, which had first started in the capital Khartoum, soon spread to several areas of the country.
After three years of continuous violence, Sudan has turned into the world’s worst humanitarian and displacement crisis, according to the UN. About 13.6 million people are currently displaced, more than 20 million require health assistance and 21 million “desperately” need food, according to the World Health Organization.
Figures on the overall death toll vary greatly. War-tracking group the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) reports about 56,000 people killed. Other estimates are of up to 150,000 people or higher.
According to several human rights groups and the UN, fighting has included mass rape and ethnically motivated killings, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Drone-dominated conflict
The crisis shows no sign of improving, with both sides rapidly adapting tactics and increasingly relying on drones. In June, ACLED said Sudan’s war had transformed over the past year into a drone-dominated conflict.
“Both sides are in a relentless race to recalibrate in the face of their adversary’s shifting technologies and tactics, even to the point of some drone-on-drone combat,” the group said.
The trend has also fuelled concerns about the increasing role of automation in warfare and the need for stronger international regulations governing autonomous weapons systems.
“Autonomous weapons cannot become a license for atrocity crimes,” Turk said.
