The horror of asymmetric warfare visited a funeral in North Kordofan this week as autonomous drones targeted a gathering of mourners. Seventeen civilians, including six women, were killed in an attack attributed to the Rapid Support Forces. This strike is part of a broader, more terrifying pattern of violence against the civilian infrastructure of Sudan. The World Health Organization has verified that attacks on healthcare facilities during this civil war have now claimed over two thousand lives, including the recent bombing of the Al Deain Teaching Hospital which killed thirteen children.

These strikes illustrate the dehumanizing nature of modern drone technology, where cheap, mass-produced munitions allow paramilitary groups to exert lethal force without accountability. The border between Sudan and Chad has now been closed by President Mahamat Déby, who has ordered military retaliation against future incursions. The Aspirant expresses its deepest solidarity with the Sudanese people, who are being systematically sacrificed in a conflict fueled by external interests and the proliferation of low-cost killing machines. We demand an immediate international arms embargo on all drone technology flowing into the region.