Geneva – The Rapid Support Forces' use of drones in combat zones in Sudan, particularly in strikes affecting residential neighbourhoods and densely populated civilian areas, constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, notably the principles of distinction, proportionality, and the obligation to take precautions in attack. This conduct reflects a pattern of unlawful attacks amounting to war crimes and, in its broader context, crimes against humanity, requiring international criminal accountability.
Over the past week alone, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented the killing of at least 28 civilians and the injury of several others as a result of drone attacks carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on multiple sites in North Kordofan, South Kordofan, and Sennar. In most cases, there is no evidence of military necessity, thereby constituting a breach of the duty to take precautions in attack under international humanitarian law, which requires parties to a conflict to take all feasible measures to avoid and minimise civilian loss of life and injury.
One of the most horrific incidents occurred on the evening of Monday, 5 January, when an RSF drone targeted a residential house in the Jalabiya neighbourhood of El Obeid, North Kordofan, killing 13 civilians, including eight children, despite the absence of any military presence in or around the house. This incident demonstrates a blatant disregard for the protection of civilians, reflecting a pattern in which precise and lethal weapons are repeatedly used without regard for the human cost or the legal consequences.
The repeated targeting of civilians in homes and markets indicates an objective that goes beyond causing death and destruction, aiming instead to create an environment of fear and insecurity
In another incident, an RSF drone struck the Kartala market in the Six Mountains area of South Kordofan on Sunday, 11 January, killing five civilians and injuring around 20 others. The attack occurred during a busy period, causing a high number of casualties and overwhelming the village's limited medical facilities, which were unable to adequately treat several of the severe injuries.
This pattern of attacks reflects the perpetrators' confidence in escaping punishment, reinforced by the international system's failure to take decisive deterrent measures to hold the RSF accountable for the grave and unprecedented violations committed since the start of the conflict, particularly following their capture of El Fasher in October 2025.
Given the type and nature of the munitions the RSF have begun using against civilians, it is reasonable to conclude that some of these attacks are not indiscriminate but carried out with premeditated intent to harm civilians and their property. The RSF possess surveillance capabilities and attack and suicide drones equipped with technology that enables operators to verify the nature of a target before striking, amounting to premeditated killing and the direct targeting of civilians and civilian objects.
The RSF are using drones as a systematic tool to spread terror among the population. The repeated targeting of civilians in homes and markets indicates an objective that goes beyond causing death and destruction, aiming instead to create an environment of fear and insecurity that disrupts basic services and facilities and forces civilian displacement. This practice further destabilises the humanitarian situation and intensifies the suffering of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.
These attacks occur in the context of an armed conflict that has been ongoing since April 2023, which has produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises in Sudan. Fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces has killed and injured hundreds of thousands, displaced nearly 13.6 million people internally and externally, and driven the systematic destruction of infrastructure and the near total collapse of health and economic systems, pushing millions towards famine amid political deadlock and the absence of safe humanitarian corridors.
The ongoing conflict and accompanying catastrophic conditions will inevitably deepen human suffering, including hunger, acute malnutrition, and outbreaks of epidemics such as cholera and dengue fever. Millions face the risk of death from infection or starvation amid the collapse of the health system, systematic obstruction of aid access, and the use of starvation as a weapon.
The continued provision of military support to parties to the conflict, particularly the supply of drones and weapons to the RSF by some countries, including the United Arab Emirates, constitutes complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan. UN and human rights reports have documented the use of these weapons in attacks causing severe civilian casualties, placing supplying states under international accountability, including for violations of Security Council resolutions on the arms embargo on Sudan.
The UN Security Council and the international community must take immediate and effective punitive measures against states and entities involved in supplying weapons to parties to the conflict, particularly the RSF. This requires activating strict international monitoring mechanisms to track supply chains and financial transfer routes, imposing comprehensive restrictions on the export and transfer of weapons and drone-related dual-use technologies, and expanding sanctions to include individuals and entities involved in supplying, financing, or operating such weapons, including asset freezes and travel bans.
Failure to take these measures perpetuates and reinforces impunity and contributes to the continued systematic targeting of civilians in Sudan.
The parties to the conflict in Sudan must immediately and fully cease attacks against civilians and civilian objects, strictly comply with international humanitarian law, and ensure the immediate and safe delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance to conflict-affected areas without obstruction or delay.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court must accelerate and expand investigations to include violations committed in the current conflict across affected areas, while underscoring the need to support the UN Fact-Finding Mission so it can document violations and collect and preserve evidence, ensuring that those responsible do not escape accountability, regardless of delays in judicial proceedings.
