AT least 40 people were killed Monday when a drone strike hit a funeral gathering in al-Luweib village outside the army-controlled city of El-Obeid in North Kordofan state, according to local officials and activists.
The attack targeted mourners assembled in a tent just 15 kilometres east of El-Obeid. Officials blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the strike, though the group has not commented. Many victims died before reaching hospitals in El-Obeid, a strategic hub connecting the capital Khartoum to western Darfur.
“Drones belonging to the Rapid Support Forces militia attacked citizens who were at a funeral, resulting in the death of 40 people and the injury of dozens,” Mohamed Ismail, North Kordofan’s humanitarian aid commissioner, told the Sudan Tribune.
The strike comes as fighting intensifies across Sudan’s oil-rich Kordofan region. Last week, approximately 20,000 people fled to El-Obeid after the RSF captured Bara, a town 30 kilometres to the north. The fall of Bara coincided with the RSF’s seizure of el-Fasher, the army’s final stronghold in Darfur.
Reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and widespread looting by RSF fighters have emerged from both cities. The United Nations said summary executions of civilians by RSF forces have been documented in Bara.
The International Criminal Court has warned that such atrocities could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The RSF leader has promised to investigate “violations” but denied that killings in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated, despite allegations that the Arab paramilitaries are targeting non-Arab populations.
The violence unfolds against a backdrop of catastrophic hunger. On Monday, the UN-accredited Integrated Food Security Phase Classification network confirmed that el-Fasher residents are experiencing famine following an 18-month RSF siege. The network also reported that Kadugli in South Kordofan state has reached the most severe stage of hunger. The city, nearly 300 kilometres south of El-Obeid, has been encircled and cut off from supplies by the RSF.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate halt to the violence, warning the crisis is “spiralling out of control” during a summit in Doha. He urged both sides to negotiate “an end to this nightmare of violence.”
A Sudanese government source told AFP the authorities are considering a U.S. truce proposal. Multiple peace talks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have failed, with both sides unwilling to agree to a ceasefire.
Since civil war erupted between the army and RSF in April 2023, more than 150,000 people have died, and approximately 12 million have fled their homes in what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
