Sudan Says 187 Drones Launched From Ethiopia Struck It in 70 Attacks, Takes Complaint to the UN

Economic Warfare & Trade Policy › Sanctions

Workers unload food aid at Port Sudan (file photo). Photo: USAID, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Sudan has lodged complaints against Ethiopia with the United Nations Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council over a series of deadly drone attacks this year, Al Jazeera reported. In a statement late Sunday, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry accused the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group of using Ethiopian territory to launch “brazen aggression” against “civilian sites and power stations” in Sudan, and said the string of incidents “places Ethiopia before international law.”

Key figures: 187 drones in the attacks sudan attributes to ethiopian launch sites · 484 civilians killed or wounded, per sudan’s report · 109 ugandan troops in the first group to leave mogadishu

A report from Sudan’s army-led Transitional Sovereignty Council, released alongside the statement, alleged 70 assaults from Feb. 15 to Oct. 27 involving 187 one-way attack drones. The attacks killed or wounded 484 civilians and killed 176 Sudanese soldiers, with another 200 soldiers wounded, the report said. “Since February 2026, armed drones have taken off from Ethiopian soil … to strike Sudanese cities and civilians,” it said. The report identified launch sites at Asosa Airport in western Ethiopia, the Kurmuk-Gizen border area and the Bahir Dar airbase in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. The allegations could not be independently verified, and Al Jazeera’s report did not include a response from Ethiopia.

The report counted 28 attacks by 97 drones in October alone. It cited an Oct. 9 attack on displaced families in Wad el-Mahi, in Sudan’s Blue Nile region near the Ethiopian border, which it said killed 30 civilians, 26 women and four children, and wounded 100. Earlier drone incursions from Ethiopia are covered in our report on a drone downed over Blue Nile, and a separate strike that killed 16 people at a displacement camp inside Ethiopia is in our Oct. 30 Africa report.

Sudan’s military has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of aiding the RSF, which it has fought in a civil war since April 2023. Ethiopia has accused the Sudanese military of backing rebels linked to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, a charge Khartoum denied, according to Al Jazeera. A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Saturday that he was “appalled” by the impact of drone strikes in Sudan, days after a strike on a market in RSF-controlled territory in Darfur killed more than 100 people. The spokesman said the strikes constitute violations of international humanitarian law.

Famine warnings deepen

The fighting has killed as many as 200,000 people, according to aid workers, displaced 13 million and led to famine in parts of the country, Al Jazeera reported. In a joint statement released Oct. 27, the U.S. State Department warned of deteriorating food availability. “The risk of famine in the coming months, as warned by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, needs urgent action,” the statement said.

Uganda starts leaving Somalia

Uganda has begun withdrawing its troops from Somalia after nearly two decades, BBC News reported. Acting army spokesperson Chris Magezi said Monday that the first group of troops deployed under a bilateral arrangement had returned home and that all forces, including those under the African Union mission, would leave by the end of 2027 in a phased withdrawal. A first contingent of 109 Uganda People’s Defence Forces troops reportedly left Mogadishu on Friday.

“As we promised, we have started withdrawing UPDF from Somalia. After 20 years of a lot of blood and sacrifice, we are handing over security to our Somali brothers,” army chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba wrote on X. The withdrawal follows a meeting in Kampala last week between Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, at which the Somali leader reportedly sought to persuade Uganda to extend its presence.

Uganda was the first country to deploy troops under the African Union Mission in Somalia, established in 2007, and Ugandan forces helped drive al-Shabab out of Mogadishu and other major towns. An estimated 4,500 troops are in Somalia under the current AU mission, alongside about 2,000 deployed through bilateral arrangements, the BBC said. That mission, known as Aussom, faces uncertainty over its funding amid plans to wind down U.S. and U.N. support, and a 12-month transition plan is due to begin in January. The end of a U.N. support mission in Somalia is covered in our Oct. 31 Africa report.

Pirates and drones

Somali pirates seized an Iranian fishing vessel carrying 21 Iranian fishermen and two Somali guards near Somalia’s northeastern coast, the EU’s Indian Ocean maritime security center said, Mehr News Agency reported !Unverified claim, Mehr (Iranian state-affiliated media). No information on the crew’s condition was available.

In northeastern Nigeria, a suspected drone attack by Islamic State West Africa Province fighters on a military formation in Kukawa Local Government Area, Borno State, killed two soldiers and injured 13 at about 6:14 p.m. Saturday, security sources told Leadership. The attack came shortly after a Borno state government delegation, including Commissioner for Information and Internal Security Usman Tar, visited the town. Neither the military nor the police had issued a statement.

By the numbers

Sudan’s figures show the pace of attacks rising sharply. By The Boston Report’s calculation from the council’s totals, the period from Feb. 15 through September accounted for about 42 attacks and 90 drones, compared with 28 attacks and 97 drones in October. The October count may overlap slightly with the report’s Oct. 27 cutoff. More coverage of conflicts across the continent is on our warfare news hub.

Watch for Ethiopia’s response, any Security Council or AU Peace and Security Council discussion of Sudan’s complaint, and the pace of Uganda’s drawdown.

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Sudan files complaints against Ethiopia with UN over deadly drone spree
• Al Jazeera: As aid situation worsens, displaced Sudanese worry about warnings of famine
• BBC News: Uganda begins withdrawing troops from Somalia after two decades of fighting al-Shabab
• Mehr News Agency: Somali pirates hijack Iranian vessel with 23 crew
• Leadership: ISWAP Drone Attack Reportedly Kills 2 Soldiers, Injures 13 In Borno