Sudan Accuses Ethiopia of Drone Attacks, Filing Complaints with UN and AU

Sudan has officially lodged complaints against Ethiopia with the United Nations Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, citing a series of deadly drone attacks that have occurred this year. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Sunday that it accuses the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group of utilizing Ethiopian territory to conduct "brazen aggression" against civilian sites and power stations within Sudan. These actions have reportedly resulted in hundreds of casualties and significant disruptions to essential services. The ministry emphasized that these incidents "place Ethiopia before international law." This development follows repeated accusations from Sudan’s military, which has been engaged in a civil war with the RSF since April 2023, that Ethiopia is providing support to the paramilitary group. Ethiopia, in turn, has accused the Sudanese military of backing rebels associated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, an allegation denied by Khartoum. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' statement was released concurrently with a report from Sudan’s army-led Transitional Sovereignty Council. This report detailed 70 assaults between February 15 and October 27, involving 187 one-way attack drones. According to the report, these attacks led to the deaths or injuries of 484 civilians and the deaths of 176 Sudanese soldiers, with an additional 200 soldiers wounded. The report further stated, "Since February 2026, armed drones have taken off from Ethiopian soil… to strike Sudanese cities and civilians." It identified specific launch sites, including Asosa Airport in western Ethiopia, the Kurmuk-Gizen border area, and Bahir Dar airbase in Ethiopia’s northwestern Amhara region. The report indicated that 28 attacks, utilizing 97 drones, were carried out last month. A specific incident cited was an October 9 attack on displaced families in Wad el-Mahi, a location in Sudan’s Blue Nile region near the Ethiopian border, which allegedly killed 30 civilians—26 women and four children—and wounded 100. A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed dismay on Saturday regarding the impact of drone strikes in Sudan, following a recent strike on a market in RSF-controlled Darfur that claimed over 100 lives. The spokesperson conveyed that the Secretary-General "strongly condemns the escalating drone attacks in Sudan by the parties to the conflict and the catastrophic toll these attacks are inflicting on civilians," adding that such strikes constitute violations of international humanitarian law.