The United Nations called on Sudan’s warring parties on Friday 16 October to stop drone attacks immediately, warning the Security Council that the weapons have become the leading cause of civilian casualties this year. Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, gave the briefing in New York. She reported that the war has not moved toward a settlement, and that the fighting is no longer confined to its main front lines.
DiCarlo said a mutual ban on drone use had the potential to improve civilian protection dramatically, according to The National. At a minimum, she urged the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to agree on concrete commitments and operating arrangements that strictly regulate drone use.
What the Council heard
In her prepared remarks, published by the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, DiCarlo said she had reported a deteriorating situation with no breakthrough in every Sudan briefing this year. Her assessment on Friday was that little has changed. She said fighting has continued mainly in North Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, while drone and air strikes put civilians at risk across the country.
She listed incidents with civilian deaths in widely separated places. They included a camp for displaced people in Blue Nile state, an artisanal gold mine in Red Sea state, and several civilian sites in North Kordofan. The North Kordofan sites were educational facilities, a courthouse, a university dormitory and a shelter for displaced families.
The Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that DiCarlo described a conflict sustained by continued arms supplies, recruitment and foreign support. She said neither side had shown serious commitment to a settlement, and warned that the inflow of weapons alongside recruitment raises the risk of further escalation.
Aid convoys under fire
DiCarlo condemned a drone strike on 3 October that hit two trucks contracted by the World Food Programme (WFP) and killed a driver. The National reported that she said the vehicles were clearly marked and held the required travel permits. The trucks were travelling in South Kordofan state, and Security Council Report said another WFP-contracted truck had struck an explosive device in Dilling a day earlier.
According to Security Council Report, WFP called for a prompt and impartial investigation. It said the incidents underline the growing risks aid workers face in delivering assistance.
The National cited UN data showing more than 1,100 people killed by drone strikes across Sudan in the first half of 2026. Tom Fletcher, the UN emergency relief coordinator, gave the same figure to the Council in August. He put total civilian deaths in the period at 1,400.
Background
The briefing was a scheduled one. Resolution 2715 of December 2023 asks the Secretary-General to report to the Council every 120 days on UN efforts to support Sudan’s path toward peace and stability, as Security Council Report noted in its preview. Personal Envoy Pekka Haavisto was expected to brief the closed consultations that followed.
The preview described a front line in North Kordofan that remains contested. The Sudanese Armed Forces hold the reopened Khartoum to El Obeid corridor and the towns they retook in late July. The RSF continues to contest the corridor and to strike El Obeid with drones.
In June, the Council heard that El Obeid risked becoming another El Fasher, according to UN meetings coverage. That warning referred to the atrocities committed in El Fasher in 2025. DiCarlo said at the time that an escalation there would put hundreds of thousands of civilians at immediate risk. She also said that drones were making the war more dispersed and more lethal for civilians.
Positions around the table
The National reported that other speakers at the session said external support sustains the war. One said the advanced drone capabilities now in use are procured, financed, transferred and sustained through networks outside Sudan. The same speaker called for changes to the Council’s sanctions regime. Another speaker asked for a humanitarian truce. The outlet’s report as cited here did not set out any national government’s position beyond these remarks.
Pakistan’s ambassador, Jadoon, said the RSF atrocities in Darfur, including in El Geneina and El Fasher, and the continuing fighting in Kordofan show the urgency of ending the conflict, according to Pakistan’s state news agency APP. DiCarlo added that practical steps to reduce violence should not wait for a comprehensive deal, and urged both sides to stop using drones at once.
Strategic implications
The drone proposal reflects a narrower approach to the conflict. A full ceasefire has not materialised, so UN officials are pressing for limited, verifiable restraints that could be agreed separately. Such a measure would be hard to monitor in a country this large. It would also depend on the foreign supply chains DiCarlo identified, which lie outside the control of either Sudanese party.
The Council’s tools are limited. Arms flows and external backing were again flagged as a core driver, yet the reported calls for changes to the sanctions regime had not produced a Council product as of the sources reviewed. Divisions among members over how to respond to outside support for the parties have limited the Council’s room for action. That point is an analytical inference rather than something stated in the briefing record.
The humanitarian stakes are high. Fletcher told the Council in August that more than two-thirds of Sudan’s people need life-saving support. Attacks on clearly marked food convoys raise costs and risks for the agencies that supply them.
What to watch
- Any Council response: whether members issue a press statement or begin negotiating a text on drone use, arms flows or sanctions adjustments.
- The WFP convoy investigation: whether the call for an impartial inquiry into the 3 October strike leads to any attribution.
- El Obeid and the Khartoum corridor: continued RSF drone strikes and any renewed ground push in North Kordofan.
- Parties’ replies: whether either the army or the RSF engages with the proposal for drone commitments.
- The next reporting cycle: the 120-day reporting requirement in resolution 2715 points to the next briefing in about February 2027.
Sources
- UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases
- Remarks by USG DiCarlo to the Security Council on Sudan [as delivered]
- UN demands immediate end to drone attacks in Sudan as civilian deaths mount (The National)
- UN: Sudan's Warring Parties Show No Serious Commitment to a Settlement (Asharq Al-Awsat)
- Sudan: Briefing and Consultations (Security Council Report)
- Sudan's El Obeid at Risk of Becoming Another El Fasher (UN Meetings Coverage)
- Tom Fletcher briefing to the Security Council on Sudan, 24 August 2026 (OCHA)
- Pakistan urges end to Sudan conflict (APP)
Top image: MusikAnimal / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
This article was produced by the Intelligence Report Desk. Sources are linked below.
