Drones Now Account for Over 80 Percent of Sudan's Civilian War Deaths

UN research published in May 2026 found that unmanned aerial systems killed at least 880 civilians between January and April, comprising more than four-fifths of all civilian deaths in Sudan's third-year conflict. Both the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces deploy drones to strike across dispersed fronts without holding ground. The toll reflects a tactical logic: aerial platforms reach distant targets but cannot distinguish combatants from civilians in populated areas and displacement sites. One February strike on an internally displaced shelter in West Kordofan killed 26 people alone.