More than 1,000 civilians were killed by drone strikes in Sudan between January and May of this year, a senior United Nations official reported Monday, as the conflict's fourth year sees an escalation in aerial warfare. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated that his office has documented a “sharp increase” in drone attacks, alongside rampant rape and sexual violence, making drones the deadliest threat to civilians in the ongoing conflict.
The war, which erupted on April 15, 2023, stems from a power struggle between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. This struggle for control over the state apparatus and its resources has devastated urban areas in the capital, Khartoum, and across Sudan. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a U.S.-based war-tracking group, reports that the conflict has claimed at least 59,000 lives over the course of three years, noting that the actual toll is likely higher due to reporting difficulties.
The Cost of Elite Power
The escalation of drone warfare has dramatically increased civilian casualties. In 2025 alone, 2,670 people, including combatants and civilians, were killed, marking a 600% increase in drone-related deaths and an 81% increase in drone attacks compared to 2024, according to ACLED data. The paramilitary group launched a drone strike last week that killed at least 15 people after hitting a cemetery and a gas station in the central city of el-Obeid, health officials confirmed.
Both warring factions have increasingly deployed explosive-laden drones, deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure. Hospitals, dams, schools, markets, and displacement camps have been among the sites struck, demonstrating a systematic disregard for the lives and livelihoods of the working class and dispossessed. This destruction of collective resources further entrenches the humanitarian crisis, which the U.N. identifies as the world's largest, with approximately 34 million people—nearly two out of every three Sudanese—in urgent need of assistance.
Foreign Capital's Role
The U.K. Minister for Africa and International Development, Jenny Chapman, acknowledged that “Sudan’s warring parties have increased their brutality from the skies, using drones supplied by their backers to target civilians and aid workers.” This statement highlights the role of external capital in fueling the conflict, as arms manufacturers and their intermediaries profit from the ongoing violence. The provision of advanced weaponry, such as drones, to factions engaged in a power struggle ensures continued demand and sustained revenue streams for these “backers,” while Sudanese civilians bear the ultimate cost.
The conflict's expansion and escalation, marked by these externally supplied drones, reveal how international capital flows into regions destabilized by internal elite conflicts, exacerbating violence and prolonging suffering. The focus on documenting abuses, as advocated by Minister Chapman, while presented as “essential steps to breaking the cycle of impunity,” fails to address the structural economic interests that perpetuate the conflict itself.
Managing the Crisis, Not Ending It
U.N. High Commissioner Volker Türk described the situation as “horrific,” noting that “rape and sexual violence are rampant” and that atrocities, including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings, amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. While international bodies document these abuses, their proposed solutions often remain within the framework of managing the crisis rather than dismantling the underlying economic and political structures that enable it.
The focus on “documenting abuses and preserving evidence” by organizations, as suggested by the U.K. Minister, serves to catalog the symptoms of a deeper systemic breakdown without challenging the “power struggle” itself or the role of foreign capital in arming the warring parties. This approach allows the fundamental drivers of the conflict—the competition for state control and resource extraction, amplified by external military-industrial interests—to persist, ensuring that the cycle of violence and civilian suffering continues in Sudan.