Sudan army drone attack on Darfur court kills 35

The Sudanese army on Sunday struck a traditional court in western Darfur with drones, killing 35 people and wounding others, a rights group said.

The Emergency Lawyers group, which has documented abuses by both sides throughout the three-year conflict, said the strike hit the court in the village of Garra al-Zawaya in North Darfur state at around 1 pm local time (1100 GMT), as civilians had "gathered to attend hearings on local cases and disputes".

The village is under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The strike also damaged the court building, which serves as a traditional institution used to resolve local and tribal feuds, the group said.

"The court session was being held under a tree with the participation of local community leaders," a witness from the area told AFP on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

Among those killed were "four tribal leaders and two RSF commanders", the witness added.

- Drone warfare -

Garra al-Zawaya lies near the town of Kabkabiya in North Darfur, about 150 kilometres (93 miles) west of El-Fasher, the army's last stronghold in Darfur which was captured by the RSF after a bloody offensive in October last year.

UN investigators have said violence linked to the RSF siege and capture of El-Fasher bore "the hallmarks of genocide".

Following its takeover of the city, the RSF, which emerged from the Janjaweed militia accused of atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s, consolidated control over much of the region.

Since that campaign, both sides have increasingly relied on drone warfare. According to the United Nations, more than 1,000 civilians were killed in drone strikes during the first five months of this year.

Last week, after losing control of a key highway linking Khartoum and El-Obeid, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo released a video message in which he told his fighters they were effectively free to intensify operations on the front lines.

El-Obeid, the largest city in the Kordofan region, has come under intense drone attacks in recent weeks, prompting the UN to issue a "red alert" over the unfolding "catastrophe" in the city, where the RSF has sought to reimpose a blockade and is feared to be preparing a ground offensive.

The UN has repeatedly warned that RSF advances in El-Obeid and the wider Kordofan region could lead to mass atrocities.

Since April 2023, the war between Daglo and his former ally, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created what the United Nations describes as the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

Both sides have reportedly committed war crimes, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians, but the RSF has been particularly accused of systematic sexual violence, looting and mass atrocities.