The Sudan crisis appears far from an end: new drone attacks in the Kordofan region.

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The atrocities in Sudan have not ceased; as a matter of fact, the situation appears to be worsening. The ongoing conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out in April 2023, spreading rapidly throughout the whole State, and causing one of the most devastating humanitarian crises happening worldwide. Indeed, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 104 people were killed during multiple drone attacks in Sudan's Kordofan region since the beginning of December 2025. 

As reported by Volker Türk, United Nations Human Rights Chief, civilian targets like a hospital and a kindergarten were also hit by the drones in Kalogi, South Kordofan, killing at least 89 civilians, including eight women and 43 children. Another hospital was hit in Dilling, South Kordofan, on the 14th of December, killing at least six people and leaving another 14, including medical personnel, injured. In fact, medical personnel and facilities are specifically protected during conflicts under international humanitarian law; other serious violations were committed: on the 13th of December, six UN peacekeepers were killed by a drone, an event that could constitute a war crime.

The press release of the High Commissioner did not specifically ascribe the drone attacks to a particular side of the conflict; furthermore, all of the latter have been accused of committing atrocities and human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing, and systematic sexual violence against civilians. 

These violations have worsened after the fall of El Fasher on 26 October 2025, whose siege was reported by The Observatory for Human Rights as well, along with many other international organisations and human rights groups. A prolonged famine characterised the blockade, leading to systematic food insecurity and leaving thousands without access to food. 

Back on 9th December, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had already expressed its concern over the Kordofan region’s situation, denouncing the “intensified violence and human rights violations and abuses” caused by the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF and their associated and allied forces. 

Moreover, the Committee urged the local authorities to conduct “prompt, effective, thorough, impartial and public investigations” into the human rights violations documented. The Sudanese authorities were also encouraged to cooperate with the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, established in 2023 by the Human Rights Council, “to investigate and establish the facts, circumstances and root causes of all alleged human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law”. 

Despite this, and the Committee’s call for an unconditional and long-lasting ceasefire, the parties involved have not stopped the fighting, and the Sudanese humanitarian crisis does not seem close to an end. On the contrary, human rights violations and ethnic violence continue happening, civilian targets like hospitals are still hit, and the overall situation requires urgent humanitarian intervention. 

written by Alice Scotti