United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is gravely concerned that recent drone attacks in Port Sudan, the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan, threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the war-torn country. In a statement issued by his spokesperson on Wednesday, Guterres warned that this major escalation could lead to large-scale civilian casualties and further destruction of critical infrastructure.
On April 15, 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a brutal war that has caused an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. More than 30 million people, including more than 16 million children, are in need of urgent assistance in the world's largest humanitarian emergency.
Sudan is also the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 13 million people forced to flee their homes since the start of the war in April 2023, including more than 4 million who have crossed into neighboring countries. The ongoing conflict has claimed an estimated 150,000 lives.
Guterres' statement comes as intensified drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan in the east of the country since Sunday threaten to escalate the two-year conflict. UN officials say they are deeply worried by the intensifying drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in the city, which has become the UN's humanitarian hub for coordinating aid operations across the country.
The growing insecurity has also impacted the movement of aid workers into Sudan and across the country, further hampering the delivery of much-needed assistance. UN Humanitarian Air Services (UNHAS) flights to and from Port Sudan have been suspended since May 4. The UN World Food Programme (WFP), which manages UNHAS, says it will resume air operations as soon as conditions permit.
„The Secretary-General is alarmed at the expansion of the conflict into an area that has served as a place of refuge for large numbers of people displaced from the capital, Khartoum, and other areas,” Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Since January, increased attacks across the country on power stations and other critical infrastructure have disrupted civilians’ access to electricity, healthcare, clean water and food.”
Guterres is also concerned about the parties' lack of political will to return to the negotiating table, preferring instead to pursue their military objectives.
The UN Secretary-General urged the warring parties to engage constructively with the mediation support mechanisms already in place to help the parties find a political solution, and underlined the UN's continued support to find a way out of this crisis.
He reiterated his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, stressing that "dialogue is the only way to achieve the peace that the people of Sudan demand."
Earlier on Wednesday, Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), expressed his deep concern about the ongoing drone attacks.
Fletcher stressed that international humanitarian law must be respected and that constant care must be taken to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure.
The drone strikes were reportedly carried out by the Rapid Support Forces, and appear to be the latest in a series of retaliatory military operations by the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces targeting airports in each other's areas of control.
The Port Sudan attack is a worrying development, threatening the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations in an area that has so far been spared the devastating conflict seen in many other parts of the country.
On Tuesday, drone attacks reportedly hit the airport area, a fuel storage facility and a power transformer in Port Sudan.
While no UN personnel or facilities were directly affected by Tuesday's strikes, OCHA said the latest violence poses a growing risk to the safety of humanitarian staff and operations. The Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, also expressed shock.
“Such attacks will deepen humanitarian suffering and needs, as well as exacerbate the already severe access and logistical challenges that humanitarian actors face in the delivery of urgently needed aid to the rest of the country,” she said, adding that the availability of fuel is critical to the delivery of humanitarian supplies to areas throughout Sudan in dire need of assistance.
“Damage to critical infrastructure could also disrupt supply chains and increase the price of basic goods, further exacerbating human suffering in what is already the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.”
Also on Tuesday, non-governmental organizations operating in Sudan voiced deep concern over the deliberate targeting of critical infrastructure in Port Sudan and called for urgent action to protect critical infrastructure and the lives and safety of civilians.
The Sudan INGO Forum said the drone and missile strikes were in direct violation of the basic principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law. The Forum is the coordinating and representative body for the international non-governmental organization (INGO) community in Sudan.
“Further bombardment of energy and water infrastructure will deepen the risk of disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and protection crises among the most vulnerable, including women, children, and the elderly. It will also severely constrain aid agencies’ ability to respond to the growing needs in Sudan”, the Sudan INGO Forum said.
“We urge all parties to the conflict to fully respect their obligations under the Geneva Conventions, to differentiate between military objectives and civilian objects, and to facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas in need.”
Meanwhile, OCHA reported on Wednesday that drone strikes have also hit the states of Kassala and River Nile. The strikes hit towns that have largely been safe havens for civilians who have been forced to flee multiple times during this devastating conflict.
In a related development on Tuesday, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed grave concern over the rapidly increasing number of Sudanese refugees crossing into eastern Chad. Nearly 20,000 people - mostly women and children - have arrived in the past two weeks alone.
“Many of the newly arrived refugees report experiencing grave violence and human rights violations that forced them to flee. They describe men being killed, women and girls subjected to sexual violence, and homes burned to the ground,” Magatte Guisse, UNHCR Representative in Chad, told journalists in Geneva.
“Their journeys to safety were perilous, with refugees facing robbery and extortion at checkpoints and repeated threats along the way. Most arrived in Chad with nothing – no food, money, or identification. Several wounded individuals, including children and elderly women, reportedly fell from vehicles during the chaotic escape.”
The sudden influx reflects the escalating violence in Sudan's North Darfur State, particularly in and around the town of El Fasher, which has triggered mass displacement. Refugees arriving in Chad report that more than 10,000 people are still on the move, trying to reach the border to escape the violence.
In early April, large-scale atrocities involving hundreds of civilian deaths and mass displacement were reported from the Zamzam displacement camp, following reports that armed groups affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces attacked Zamzam and took control of the camp.
Zamzam was Sudan's largest camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), hosting more than 500,000 women, children and men before the recent attacks, and was one of three displacement sites in the El Fasher region where famine conditions were found.
As a result of the war that erupted two years ago, Sudan is facing the largest hunger crisis in the world. Across the country, nearly 25 million people - half the population - are facing acute hunger. Nearly 5 million children and lactating mothers are acutely malnourished. Sudan is the only place in the world where famine has been confirmed in multiple areas, and famine continues to spread.
An estimated 400,000-500,000 people have fled Zamzam, with many seeking safety and shelter in El Fasher and the towns of Tawila and Dar As Salam in North Darfur, with additional reports of displaced people arriving in Central Darfur State and beyond.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians in El Fasher, Tawila and other parts of North Darfur face an increasingly catastrophic humanitarian situation.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Tuesday that three weeks after the massive ground offensive by the Rapid Support Forces on Zamzam camp, reports of intensified fighting in El-Fasher continue, and more displaced people are also arriving in Tawila.
People have been reaching Tawila in a vulnerable state, with many suffering from malnutrition, while others have been injured in the attack on Zamzam camp. MSF's emergency and nutritional services at the hospital in Tawila are overwhelmed.
According to MSF, a handful of aid organizations are present in Tawila, but the number of people in need of assistance far exceeds the capacity to respond.
Meanwhile, in Chad, a rapid protection assessment by UNHCR and its partners shows that 76 percent of newly arrived refugees have been subjected to serious protection incidents, including extortion, theft and sexual violence.
Chad already hosts 1.3 million refugees, including 794,000 who have arrived from Sudan since the conflict began more than two years ago. Hundreds of thousands of others, including many returnees, have also entered Chad since the war began in 2023.
“While the country continues to show remarkable solidarity in hosting refugees, it cannot bear this burden alone. Humanitarian resources across the country remain extremely limited, while needs continue to grow for water, shelter, health, education and protection,” Guisse said.
UNHCR is calling on the international community to urgently increase support for the response, as only 20 percent of the US$409 million needed to respond to the refugee crisis in Chad has been funded.
At the same time, the funding gap to meet the massive humanitarian needs inside Sudan remains enormous. To date, the Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan, which calls for US$4.16 billion to provide life-saving assistance to some 21 million of the most vulnerable people, is only 13 percent funded.