United Nations, May 12 (IANS): Airstrikes and drone attacks in Sudan’s Kordofan and Darfur states have killed dozens of civilians including women and children, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed on Monday. On Friday alone, strikes in South Kordofan and North Kordofan states killed at least 26 civilians, with armed clashes and additional airstrikes also reported around El Obeid and the town of Bara in North Kordofan. On Saturday, more than 17 people were killed in a strike on a civilian truck travelling from Khumi village toward the Abu Zabad area in West Kordofan state, while deadly drone strikes were also reported in North Darfur and South Darfur states in recent days. The UN Human Rights Office warned that drone attacks alone accounted for at least 880 deaths – more than 80 per cent of all conflict-related civilian fatalities recorded between January and April this year in Sudan.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that the increasing reliance on drones was allowing hostilities to continue unabated even as the rainy season approached, which in the past had brought a lull in ground operations, and cautioned that an intensification of hostilities in the coming weeks risked expanding the conflict further into central and eastern states “with lethal consequences for civilians across enormous areas.” The mounting insecurity is also forcing more people to flee their homes, with the International Organization for Migration reporting that heightened insecurity in Blue Nile state displaced more than 4,600 people from villages in Al Kurmuk locality on Thursday alone. OCHA called on all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and allow humanitarian aid to reach people in need quickly, safely, and without obstruction.