STATEMENT OF CONDEMNATION On the Drone Strike on Amiet (Al-Naam) Market in Abyei Within the Mandate Area of the UN Mission (UNISFA)

STATEMENT No.
SE/STM/2026/004 ش/ب/2026/004 DATE
19 October 2026 CLASSIFICATION
For Immediate Release
STATEMENT OF CONDEMNATION
On the Drone Strike on Amiet (Al-Naam) Market in Abyei
Within the Mandate Area of the UN Mission (UNISFA)

The Shahid Evidence Platform for Digital Evidence and Human Rights Documentation condemns in the strongest terms the drone strike that hit the Amiet market (also known as Al-Naam market) in the Abyei Area at midday today, Monday, 19 October 2026. The area falls under the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and is meant to be demilitarised under UN Security Council resolutions.
According to eyewitnesses and local sources, the drone fired several missiles — between six and eight, according to differing accounts — at the northern section of the market, where fuel traders are concentrated, setting off large fires that destroyed fuel outlets, goods and vehicles. Preliminary estimates indicate at least 40 people killed, while local and medical sources reported more than 50 killed and 70 injured, among them South Sudanese nationals and workers from Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda. The Platform has not yet been able to conclusively verify the number or identities of the victims.
The spokesperson of the Abyei Area administration has accused the Sudanese Armed Forces of carrying out the attack, and sources on the ground reported that the drones belonged to the army. As of the time of this statement, the Sudanese Armed Forces had not commented.
Video footage received by the Platform shows a UNISFA peacekeeper at the scene of the attack amid the fires, listening to accounts from residents. Local sources also reported that the strike hit a UNISFA position and that the mission’s observation tower to the north-east of the market was burned.
The Platform stresses that targeting a crowded civilian market inside an area under the protection of a UN mission constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of the Security Council resolutions governing the status of Abyei, and that attacks on the personnel and installations of peacekeeping missions, if established, constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The Shahid Evidence Platform calls on UNISFA to publish the findings of its on-site assessment of the attack and to submit a detailed report to the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council; calls on the Security Council to convene an emergency session on the attack and to take urgent measures to protect civilians in Abyei; and calls on the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan to investigate the incident and identify those responsible.
The Platform further calls on the leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces to respond publicly to these allegations; calls on the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to respect the status of Abyei as a demilitarised area; and calls for medical and humanitarian teams to be granted unimpeded access to the wounded and affected.
If the UN flag cannot protect civilians in a market under its own mandate, impunity has reached a point where silence is no longer tenable.
The Shahid Evidence Platform affirms that it will continue to collect and preserve digital evidence and testimonies relating to this incident in accordance with professional human rights documentation standards, including the Berkeley Protocol, with a view to submitting them to the competent international investigation and accountability mechanisms.
Shahid Evidence Platform
for Digital Evidence and Human Rights Documentation
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