Drone strikes that killed at least 30 people in Abyei last month have added "a new and concerning dimension" to security in the disputed area, the UN's peacekeeping chief told the Security Council on Thursday.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the 19 October attacks were the first of their kind in Abyei. They set off major fires, injured about 59 people and forced dozens of civilians from their homes. Peacekeepers are still checking whether the death toll is an underestimate.
The strikes followed violence on 15 September in and around Amiet Common Market, where clashes involving members of the Ngok Dinka, Misseriya and Nuba communities left 124 people dead and 40 injured.
Taken together, Mr. Lacroix said, the incidents show that threats to stability in Abyei "are evolving, extending beyond traditional intercommunal dynamics and are increasingly influenced by wider political and economic regional conflicts".
A market at the crossroads
Amiet is now much more than a trading post. It is Abyei's main economic hub and a transit point for more than 49,000 refugees and returnees who have fled the war in Sudan. Mr. Lacroix warned that this concentration of trade and people was opening the door to criminal networks and armed groups.
He also pointed to real gains. Recorded security incidents fell by about 32 per cent compared with the same period last year, and this year's seasonal cattle migration passed without a single related death.
Sudan and South Sudan resumed formal talks in August through their Joint Political and Security Mechanism, for the first time since January 2023. A second meeting is due in Khartoum from 8 to 10 November.
But the reported appointment by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of its own representative to the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee risks setting up competing claims of authority and drawing the area further into Sudan's conflict, he said.
As the council weighs the future mandate of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei ( UNISFA ), Mr. Lacroix said the conditions for any major change to the mission's set-up "do not yet exist". He called for stronger protection for peacekeepers against aerial threats.
"UNISFA needs the Council's support now more than ever," he said.
The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Guang Cong, called the October drone strikes one of the deadliest incidents in Abyei's history. He urged a prompt and independent investigation and called on both governments to uphold the area's demilitarized status.
Power stations under fire
In Sudan, Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown warned again that drone strikes are hitting power stations and fuel facilities. Where fuel is scarce, she said, lifesaving aid work is being badly affected.
According to local sources, drones struck an electricity transmission station and the Ar Rusayris Dam in Ed Damazine on Tuesday, causing widespread blackouts.
Another strike on a residential area killed two civilians. The same day, airstrikes in Um Bader killed two women, injured 10 people and badly damaged two water stations.
Aid is still getting through. The UN Children's Fund ( UNICEF ) has delivered malaria treatment to 765 health facilities across Darfur and West Kordofan, enough for 800,000 people. But with the year nearly over, the $2.9 billion humanitarian appeal for Sudan is less than half funded.
Border clinic at risk
On the Sudan-South Sudan border, the International Organization for Migration ( IOM ) warned that about 100,000 people could lose healthcare if the only clinic at the Wunthou crossing closes. It could shut by December without urgent funding.
The clinic has carried out more than 400,000 consultations, given over 260,000 vaccinations and helped deliver more than 1,000 babies. It still sees more than 1,000 outpatients every week.
