Statement on the Deliberate Aerial Attack on Civilians in Kummu , South Kordofan:

Statement on the Deliberate Aerial Attack on Civilians in Kummu , South Kordofan

On the morning of Saturday, November 29, the Sudanese Armed Forces, operating under the authorities in Port Sudan, launched a drone strike on the village of Kummu in South Kordofan/ Nuba Mountains.
This was not a military target, nor an active combat zone.
Kummu is a civilian community under the administration of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N), and the strike deliberately targeted non-combatants, including school students .

The attack resulted in the killing of 45 civilians, the majority of them school students, and the severe injury of at least eight others, including women and children.
This is not an isolated mistake, nor a battlefield miscalculation. It is part of a pattern of systematic violence against communities outside the central state’s political and military interests.

A Violation of International Humanitarian Law

Under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols (1977), the intentional targeting of civilians and civilian objects—such as schools, markets, and villages—constitutes a war crime.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles does not mitigate the legal responsibility of the attacking party. The decisive elements under international law are intent and consequence, both of which are evident in this incident.

The strike on Kummu signals a deliberate policy in which civilian populations are used as instruments of intimidation and collective punishment. This policy has precedents: the bombing of the Heiban children, the attack on the Hadra school, and a long history of aerial assaults on civilians in the Nuba Mountains, the Blue Nile, and Darfur.

Culture of Silence and Complicity :

Equally alarming is the silence of political elites, media actors, and certain human rights groups—particularly those who only speak when atrocities support their narrative or geopolitical interests.
The absence of condemnation for the Kummu attack reflects a broader dehumanization of civilians in marginalized regions, where the loss of children is treated as a peripheral tragedy rather than a national or international alarm.

No organization is asked to support an armed group.
What is demanded is a principled defence of civilian life and an unequivocal rejection of the targeting of civilians .

A Call for Immediate Action :

We urgently request:

An independent international investigation into the Kumo attack and all similar incidents in South Kordofan, the Blue Nile, Darfur, and other affected regions.

Humanitarian access to the affected communities without political obstruction.

Accountability mechanisms at national or international levels, including referral to the International Criminal Court, where necessary.

Monitoring and protection measures to prevent further strikes on markets , schools, health facilities, and civilian settlements.

The bombing of Kumo is not a tragic accident—it is a calculated assault on education, dignity, and the future of a people.
A state that bombs school students is not defending sovereignty; it is destroying its own moral legitimacy and violating every principle of international law.

We call upon the international community to take this atrocity seriously, to treat it not as a footnote in a prolonged conflict but as a violation that demands immediate, transparent, and credible action.

The lives lost in Kummu must not be forgotten.