8-14 March 2026 Sudan News Summary: drones, displacement, and dengue

15 Mar

Arabic news roundup

By William Greenwood

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said he was shocked by the devastating impact of escalating drone attacks on civilians, amid reports that more than 200 civilians have been killed by these aircraft in Kordofan and White Nile states since March 4 alone.
In West Kordofan, at least 152 civilians have reportedly been killed in drone strikes by the SAF, including at least 50 civilians killed when a market and a hospital were targeted on March 4 in El Mujlad.
Attacks on two separate markets in Abu Zabad and Wad Banda on March 7 resulted in the deaths of at least 40 civilians. A truck carrying civilians, allegedly struck by a SAF drone, was targeted in El Sunut on March 10, reportedly killing at least 50 civilians, including women and children.
In South Kordofan, at least 39 civilians, including 14 in the state capital, Dilling, were reportedly killed by heavy artillery shelling carried out by the RSF and their ally, the SPLM-N, between March 4 and 5.
Many homes, schools, markets, and health facilities were damaged or destroyed in these attacks, exacerbating the impact on civilians and local communities.
The High Commissioner also expressed concern about the recent expansion of the conflict into White Nile State, which has been subjected to intensified RSF drone attacks since March 4.
A secondary school and a health clinic in the village of Shukeiri were hit on March 11, reportedly killing at least 17 civilians, one of whom was a health worker.

The Emergency Chambers Council in El Tina, North Darfur State, has issued an urgent appeal to rescue more than 760 newly displaced families who have arrived in the area, amidst what has been described as catastrophic humanitarian conditions.
In a statement, the council said that the displaced families are living in the open under the scorching sun, in an environment devoid of the most basic necessities, exacerbating their suffering especially during the month of Ramadan.
The statement explained that the displaced people are scattered across several new locations, which it did not specify but referred to by initials; for example, location (D) houses approximately 350 families and is suffering from a severe food shortage, with a large number of children and elderly people present.
The statement also confirmed that there are approximately 80 pregnant and lactating women among the displaced, who are in dire need of urgent medical and nutritional care.
The statement called on humanitarian organisations and relief agencies to intervene urgently to provide shelter and clothing materials such as tents, tarpaulins and blankets, in addition to basic food baskets, health and nutrition services including mobile clinics, children’s supplements and emergency medicines, as well as providing clean drinking water to prevent the spread of diseases and epidemics.

The Federal Ministry of Health reported 1,238 cases of dengue fever in one week, with the highest numbers in Khartoum, River Nile, Gezira, and Northern states.
The monitoring and information report, presented at a meeting of the Federal Emergency Operations Center in Khartoum, also indicated 54 new cases of hepatitis E in Gezira State.
The report confirmed 165 cases of measles across five states (White Nile, North Darfur, West Kordofan, Gezira, and River Nile).
The response report noted the continued reporting of dengue fever from several states and the interventions implemented. It also mentioned interventions against hepatitis B in Gezira.
Regarding the situation of internally displaced persons, the report indicated the presence of 58,175 families (227,675 individuals) in several host states, outlining the challenges they face.
In addition, the supply report noted the continued disparity in the availability of epidemic medicines and supplies in the supply fund warehouses in the states, as well as those related to cholera, dengue fever and malaria.

By Samuel Hunt

Drone warfare has added dangerous depth to Sudan's humanitarian catastrophe by making safe aid delivery and emergency response virtually impossible in some of the hardest-hit areas.
In just a two-day window in mid-February, more than 60 people were reported to have been killed by drones launched by both sides, with at least 15 children killed in a single Sudanese military drone strike on a shelter.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said that “It will soon be three full years since the senseless conflict in Sudan began, devastating millions of lives and livelihoods. Yet the violence, fuelled by these new technologies of war, simply keeps spreading,”
Mukesh Kapila, professor of global health and humanitarian affairs at the University of Manchester, pointed to the pattern of targets — hospitals, water points, markets and displacement camps — as evidence that the intent of these attacks was “to spread terror” with strikes increasingly used to project power well beyond active front lines.
The war has now produced more than 1,000 documented drone attacks since April 2023, and in the first two months of 2026 alone, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project recorded 198 strikes by both sides, at least 52 of which caused civilian casualties.

Bill Greenwood