Sudan’s civil war is being reshaped by relentless drone warfare in the country’s south-central Kordofan region, where intensified strikes are killing civilians in large numbers and turning the area into the conflict’s most consequential new front line.
After nearly three years of fighting, the centre of gravity has shifted. With both sides having entrenched their positions in earlier battle zones, Kordofan has emerged as the epicentre of hostilities, a region whose strategic value lies not only in geography but also in its vast gold and oil resources.
The war pits Sudan’s national military, the Sudanese Armed Forces, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It has already become one of Africa’s deadliest conflicts for civilians and shows little sign of easing, despite sustained peace efforts led by the United States.
Civilians Under Fire
Across Kordofan, near-daily drone strikes have hit markets, health centres, aid convoys and residential neighbourhoods, triggering widespread condemnation from humanitarian agencies and the United Nations.
“The continued attacks by all parties on civilian objects must stop,” said Volker Türk, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, last week. He called on all combatants to urgently protect civilians and to refrain from using civilian locations for military purposes.
Türk’s remarks followed reports that more than 50 civilians were killed over just two days in separate drone strikes in North Kordofan and West Kordofan. Local sources and war-monitoring groups blamed those attacks on the Sudanese military, though both sides have been accused of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure throughout the war.
Why Kordofan Matters
Greater Kordofan, made up of three states, occupies a pivotal position in Sudan’s conflict map. It forms a vital corridor linking the RSF-controlled Darfur region to Khartoum in the eastern Nile Valley, which returned to army control last year.
The conflict began in April 2023, triggered by a power struggle between the leadership of the SAF and the RSF. Fighting escalated sharply in Kordofan after the army regained Khartoum, turning the gold- and oil-rich region into a central prize.
The south-central belt became the war’s primary battlefield after the RSF consolidated control over Darfur by capturing el-Fasher in October. Gaining full control of Kordofan would place the RSF in a position to reclaim Sudan’s central corridor and reinforce its authority in western Sudan.
That objective is central to the RSF’s political ambitions. According to ACLED, an independent global conflict monitor, holding Kordofan would also strengthen the RSF’s rival administration, which it established last year, formalising the country’s de facto division.
Rebel Alliances and Shifting Momentum
The RSF has not fought alone. It has allied with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N), a long-standing rebel group based in South Kordofan. The alliance has given the RSF access to experienced fighters, territorial strongholds and cross-border routes.
For decades, the SPLM-N has fought Sudan’s central government, seeking to end the political and economic marginalisation of the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions.
In recent weeks, however, battlefield momentum has shifted in favour of the army. The SAF has broken RSF-imposed blockades on South Kordofan’s two largest cities, Kadugli and Dilling, which had endured nearly two years of siege.
UN-backed food security monitors said those sieges had pushed residents to the brink of famine.
Since regaining control of the cities, the army has intensified bombardments of RSF positions, with particular focus on destroying aerial assets.
A War Fought from the Sky
Drones have been central to the conflict since its early stages. The RSF began deploying them to counter the army’s dominance in manned aircraft.
The paramilitary force is widely reported to use long-range CH-95 drones supplied by the United Arab Emirates, an allegation the UAE denies.
Sudan’s military, for its part, operates drones produced by Baykar, Turkey’s largest defence contractor. Analysts believe the fleet has been strengthened over the past year with advanced Akinci models, though the Turkish government says it does not directly support the SAF.
In early February, the Sudanese army announced it had destroyed RSF drones and air-defence systems in Kordofan and Darfur. “This was part of a strategy to dismantle the non-conventional aerial capabilities utilised by the RSF,” said army spokesperson Asim Awad.
While the BBC could not independently verify state-released footage, Turkish media reported that an Akinci drone destroyed a Chinese-made FK-2000 in Sudan on 10 February.
“If the RSF’s air-defence infrastructure collapses, Sudan’s liberation could be imminent,” Turkish defence analyst Yusuf Akbaba wrote on X.
Five days later, the army announced the destruction of another RSF air-defence system in West Kordofan.
Regional Entanglements Grow
The SAF’s advance appears to have been aided by disruptions to RSF supply lines from Libya into Kordofan, reportedly targeted by Turkish drones launched from an Egyptian airstrip near Sudan’s border.
Investigations by the New York Times and Reuters found that Egypt has become more involved in the conflict over the past six months, alarmed by RSF gains in Darfur.
At the same time, attacks led by the SPLM-N in Blue Nile State threaten to widen the war. The region lies between Ethiopia and South Sudan, both of which Sudan’s army has accused of allowing RSF cross-border operations — accusations they deny. The UAE has also denied claims that it is funding an RSF training camp in Ethiopia.
Analysts say the RSF and its SPLM-N allies are attempting to open a new front in Blue Nile to relieve pressure in Kordofan.
“Our brothers in the Blue Nile state are doing a good job,” RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said during a visit to Uganda last week. “The distance there is short. It’s not like Darfur.”
Peace Hopes Fade
Earlier this month, US envoy Massad Boulos said he hoped to secure a truce by the start of Ramadan on 18 February.
Instead, on the first day of the holy month, a drone strike blamed on the Sudanese military hit families gathering at a water collection point in West Kordofan. Young children were among those killed.
As drones continue to dominate the skies over Sudan’s gold- and oil-rich heartland, the war appears to be entering a more destructive and regionally entangled phase — one in which civilians remain the primary victims.
