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El Obeid: UN investigators say Sudan civilians face drone strikes and mass arrests

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Civilians in El Obeid, Sudan, live in constant fear of drone attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and of arbitrary arrests by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), UN-appointed independent investigators said on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, according to UN News.

El Obeid: A woman among millions displaced by conflict in Sudan
A woman among millions displaced by conflict in Sudan Photo: © UNICEF/Osman Saif via UN News (editorial use with credit).

El Obeid report by the UN fact-finding mission

The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan released a new report, “Sudan’s Unrelenting War: Civilian Devastation and Deepening Insecurity in El Obeid”. It found that RSF drone strikes continue to kill and injure civilians, damaging homes, schools, displacement sites and power and water systems, and said these may amount to war crimes. Only about 30 per cent of hospitals in the city were still operating, one expert told the mission. The investigators warned that the war, which began in April 2023, is becoming more widespread, more technologically sophisticated and more dangerous for civilians. The mission presented the report after briefing the General Assembly’s Third Committee on its September findings on external support for the warring parties.

Key Facts

  • City: El Obeid, Sudan
  • Report released: 28 October 2026
  • Hospitals working: about 30%
  • Prison: about 2,000 held vs capacity 450
  • War began: April 2023

“Sovereignty should not shield mass atrocity crimes, period.”

— Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan

Arrests and prison conditions in Sudan

“Thousands have been arrested by SAF security cells, detained and tortured in unofficial locations and in El Obeid Central Prison,” said mission member Mona Rishmawi. The prison reportedly holds about 2,000 people against a capacity of about 450, and one former detainee described up to 40 people held in a cell of roughly 2.5 by 2 metres. SAF-affiliated security actors have also stepped up surveillance of people doing humanitarian, human rights and peace work, the mission said. It is also investigating a reported drone attack on a market in Abyei on 19 October that killed at least 80 people. It is also looking into reported Egyptian airstrikes on gold mining sites near the Sudan-Egypt border that killed at least 72 miners.

Rapid Support Forces supply network and arms embargo

Mission chair Mohamed Chande Othman said investigators had found evidence that individuals and entities in Chad, Puntland in Somalia, southeastern Libya and the United Arab Emirates were involved in a network supporting the RSF, though the mission had not “linked any of the neighbouring States”. He said October had seen the highest number of drone attacks on civilians since the war began. Expert Joy Ngozi Ezeilo repeated the call to extend the UN arms embargo, now limited to Darfur, to all of Sudan. “Sovereignty should not shield mass atrocity crimes, period,” she said. He said states supplying weapons “cannot say that they are unaware”. Marking one year since the RSF takeover of El Fasher, Ezeilo said accountability remained absent. UN human rights chief Volker Turk had earlier condemned drone strikes that killed at least 306 people across Sudan in the first three weeks of October.

Why It Matters: Sudan's war has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, and evidence on weapons supply could shape any wider UN arms embargo.

Also on TrendDesh: Women and girls in conflict: share of civilian war deaths doubles since 2021, UN report says · Luke Lindberg, new WFP chief, says ending conflict is the top way to cut world hunger

Source: UN News: Civilians in El Obeid trapped between drones and incarceration · OHCHR: Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan · UN Security Council

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