Rapid Support Forces kill 41 in Sudan displacement camp drone strike

A drone attack by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed at least 41 people at a camp for displaced persons in the country’s Blue Nile region. The strike targeted the Abu Shandi area, which is located near the Ethiopian border. According to reporting from international human rights monitors and the United Nations, the victims were primarily civilians who had sought safety in the camp to escape the country's widening civil conflict.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the legal advocacy group Emergency Lawyers confirmed that a large number of the deceased were women and children. The attack took place on Friday, occurring amidst a period of intensified fighting in the Blue Nile region. International observers expressed profound shock at the strike, highlighting the extreme vulnerability of displaced populations who are increasingly caught in the crossfire of the national conflict.

The ongoing power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF began in April 2023 and has since developed into one of the world's most severe humanitarian disasters. The war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and led to the displacement of more than 14 million people both internally and across borders. This latest escalation in the Blue Nile region underscores the continuing danger to non-combatants as the use of advanced weaponry like drones becomes more prevalent in civilian-occupied zones.