In El Obeid, Sudanese women face drones by day, rape by night, to reach water

Gender equality agency UN Women sounded the alarm this week over what it called a “dual terror” gripping the North Kordofan capital.

“In El Obeid, Sudan, drone attacks during the day and sexual violence at night have left no safe window for women and girls to collect water,” said Anna Mutavati, UN Women’s regional director for East and Southern Africa, briefing journalists in Geneva from Nairobi.

The pattern, she said, echoes atrocities documented in El Fasher last year.

No safe hour

Drones have targeted water points and distribution sites during the day, pushing women to wait for nightfall in the belief that darkness offers cover. Instead, Ms. Mutavati said, many have been “harassed, raped, and subjected to other forms of sexual violence” while simply trying to fill a jerrycan.

Foreign-made drones flooding into Sudan have pushed the war deeper into civilian life, bringing critical infrastructure within range. 

The UN’s human rights chief Volker Türk warned in May that the conflict was “on the cusp of entering yet another new, even deadlier phase.” 

Drone strikes killed at least 880 civilians in the first four months of 2026 alone – more than 80 per cent of all civilian deaths recorded by the human rights office in that period.

El Obeid’s position on routes linking the capital Khartoum with Darfur, the wider Kordofan region and southern Sudan has made it a prized target since the war between rival militaries began in April 2023. 

More than half a million people live there, including 83,000 internally displaced people, most of them women and children.

Disease closing in

With the rainy season set to peak next month, the water crisis is fuelling fears of disease. 

Cholera is already spreading in Sudan, with 1,330 cases reported by the World Health Organization in early July. Malnutrition, which weakens the immune system and is increasingly affecting women and girls, is compounding the risk, alongside severely limited access to food and healthcare, particularly in displacement sites.

Sexual violence has been used as a weapon throughout Sudan’s three-year war, with testimonies describing rape committed in front of family members alongside brutal physical abuse. 

The number of women and girls needing gender-based violence services nationwide has quadrupled since the conflict began, UN Women said, reaching an estimated 12.7 million in 2026.

Lifelines cut

Women-led organizations remain a lifeline in Sudan, reaching communities others cannot to deliver protection and support. 

But funding cuts have forced two-thirds of them to close or scale back safe spaces and gender-based violence services. Half of those surveyed said they expect to suspend operations or shut down entirely within the year without urgent financial support.

Ms. Mutavati repeated UN Women’s call for an immediate ceasefire, inclusive peace talks and an end to the war. 

Earlier this month, the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan warned that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces appeared to be replicating tactics used in El Fasher by encircling El Obeid and attacking critical infrastructure – raising fears the city could face mass atrocities.