Sudan war: First ‘suicide’ drone attacks, now long-range strikes are the norm

“It is an assault unlike anything Sudan has seen before. In the last week of October, not a single day passed without a drone strike on a power station in Sudan. Up to 15 were hit in the month of October,” said agency spokesperson James Elder.

“This year in Sudan, two in three child casualties were killed by armed drones. They are bringing war to places that were once safe. People in Sudan talk about three things: they talk about safety, education and water. Drones are taking all three.”

The UNICEF alert comes amid ongoing fighting between former allies turned military rivals the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Well over 15 million people urgently require shelter across the country but drone strikes on civilians, markets and key public infrastructure continue to hinder aid efforts and increase the suffering of non-combatants.

Changing face of war

“Several years ago, there was a use of suicide drones, which was terrifying to see that in Sudan,” Mr. Elder explained.

Highlighting the use of increasingly accurate long-range drones in the last 12 months, including some travelling 1,500 kilometres, he explained that it was impossible for humanitarian agencies like UNICEF to ascertain who was behind “at least 15 strikes” on Sudanese power stations in October. “One would struggle to think if it was in the interest of the SAF, of Government, to do that,” he added.

Double amputee’s plight

Straight off the plane from Sudan, Mr. Elder told journalists in Geneva about one of the many young war victims he had met from El Obeid, where UN Human Rights Council investigators say that civilians live in constant fear of drone attack.

“Buri is a teenager. An explosive took both his hands. He lives in a tent. He told me, ‘I must accept this,’” Mr. Elder explained. “He spends the mornings learning online and the afternoons picking grass for animals with stumps for hands. His friends help him, that’s Sudan. It’s relentless. It’s crushing.”

Shared threats

Like Ukraine, Sudan’s energy sector is being struck repeatedly, but unlike in Ukraine, Sudanese targets are not repaired, the UNICEF spokesperson stressed: “When a power station is struck, water pumps stop, water treatment stops. Families are forced into expensive and unsafe alternatives.”

Harvests suffer, prices keep rising and food slips further and further out of reach

In addition, disease is spreading, the agency warns, with pockets of cholera identified and the cold chain for vaccines and medicines increasingly threatened by the ongoing war.

Farmers are also losing the ability to irrigate crops because their pumps run on electricity generators which are too expensive to operate because of “crippling” fuel shortages, Mr. Elder continued.

“Harvests suffer, prices keep rising and food slips further and further out of reach: a lethal cycle kicks in…All this at a time when an estimated 825,000 children under five in Sudan are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year; the type that kills.”

As part of the wider UN response, UNICEF and partners have treated hundreds of thousands of children for the deadliest form of malnutrition.

The agency has provided healthcare to more than 2.5 million people and vaccinated millions of children against deadly diseases. Teams have also repaired and hooked up water systems to solar power, helping to keep safe water flowing for close to eight million people.

But with “so many crises happening at once, everything, everything is at breaking point”, Mr. Elder said, noting that UNICEF’s response in Sudan is just one-third funded. “Resilience cannot run on goodwill alone,” he insisted.

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