Drone strikes appearing to target civilian infrastructure across Sudan are cutting off electricity, water and fuel supplies, hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid and threatening lives, the United Nations has warned. Denise Brown, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, described "an intense pattern of drone strikes over the past couple of weeks" that has caused what she said appear to be systematic attacks on sources of energy and fuel — acts she characterised as an apparent violation of international humanitarian law, which protects civilian infrastructure.
The consequences for essential services have been severe. WHO colleagues visiting a hospital just outside Khartoum found that drone strikes had cut its electricity supply. With no generator or solar panels, the facility was forced to halt dialysis treatment for 25 patients. Brown noted the same disruption affects women in labour and children. Water services have similarly been affected, and in Khartoum, queues stretching kilometres have formed as residents wait for fuel. Among those hardest hit are tuk-tuk drivers who rely on daily earnings and have been forced to wait several days at a time, losing income in the process. Markets and displacement sites have also been struck, Brown said.
The fuel shortages are directly obstructing humanitarian operations. Brown said hundreds of aid trucks are stranded and unable to move supplies, including food for people facing severe acute malnutrition, which UNICEF studies show exceeds emergency thresholds in many parts of the country, particularly those directly affected by the war. "If we don't have fuel, we can't move," Brown said. Millions of people remain displaced by the ongoing conflict, and basic social services, including the health system, have been severely disrupted.
Compounding the situation, severe rainfall deficits over the past couple of months have pushed people in parts of Darfur and Kordofan to move in search of food, adding what Brown described as a further dimension to "what is already a pre-existing catastrophe." The UN and its partners — including international and national NGOs alongside local communities — are working to deliver food, shelter, and nutrition supplies to people who, in Brown's words, "would die without that assistance."
The World Food Programme has recorded seven attacks on its convoys this year alone, and 20 over the past two years, resulting in the loss of both lives and food intended for those most in need. Brown also cited bureaucratic impediments as a persistent constraint, though she noted progress on visas and permits. She urged the international community to intervene to end the fighting and provide urgently needed funding.
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