Drone Attack Targets University in Sudan Amid Ongoing Civil War

The damaged state of a lecture hall at University of Kordofan in the aftermath of the drone attack. Photo Credit: The Eastleigh Voice.

A drone attack targeted the University of Kordofan in El Obeid on February 23, 2026, as part of a multi-day campaign on different locations in the city. The university reported significant damage to university infrastructure located on the university’s main campus, claiming that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an armed group currently engaged in a civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF, the internationally recognized government of Sudan), were behind the attack. Photographs from the site of the attack show serious damage sustained to some lecture halls, crucial for maintaining regular educational activities.

The Sudanese government also accused the RSF of being behind the attack, condemning it as an instance of the RSF’s broader campaign of “systematic destruction” of Sudanese higher education. A statement by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research further described the attack as “a direct assault on science, knowledge, and the students’ right to project safe and stable education.” No loss of life or injuries were reported at or near the university.

An expert and scholar from Sudan, speaking to University World News, said that Darfur is one of the regions in which higher education has been the most impacted by the ongoing conflict between the government of Sudan and the RSF, with universities being “looted, occupied, and converted into military bases by armed groups.”

More recently, on March 9, another RSF drone hit a university student residence in Kosti, the capital of White Nile state. The attack left seven students injured. UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which reported the attack on the dormitory, drew attention to the escalation of conflict in the Kordofan region and White Nile state and its humanitarian toll, with “more than 200 civilians hav[ing] been killed by drones since 4 March alone.”

Last month, the civil war in Sudan surpassed 1,000 days of continuous conflict. The war has not only killed hundreds of thousands, but has also displaced more than 11 million people, leaving more than 30 million in need of humanitarian assistance. Fact-finding missions launched by the UN have found evidence pointing to genocidal activity, especially by the RSF. Conflict-related sexual violence also remains widespread, with over 1,294 cases having been identified by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa Network.

Sudanese higher education has been engaged in various adaptation and survival efforts in the context of this brutal conflict. Some, with the ability to do so, have moved abroad. One example is the University of Medical Sciences and Technology, a private institution specializing in training doctors. The university, with its students and faculty, moved to Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, in the aftermath of the outbreak of civil war in Sudan in 2023, continuing operations there, awaiting their eventual return to their home city, Khartoum.

However, the already limited options for relocation are getting increasingly more restricted. Recently, on March 4, 2026, the government of the United Kingdom announced that it would soon stop issuing student visas to citizens of four countries, one of which is Sudan. UK’s Secretary of State Shabana Mahmood said that an alleged surge in the number of asylum claims by students from these countries “pos[es] an unsustainable threat to the UK’s asylum system.” Mahmood further accused students from these countries of “exploiting [the UK’s] generosity.” According to The Guardian and Financial Times, more than 200 Sudanese students, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels, who have been admitted to UK universities for the next academic year, will not be able to pursue their education amid this ban. Sudan is also one of the countries in the travel ban list issued by the Trump Administration in the United States earlier in the year, which includes student visas.

Endangered Scholars Worldwide condemns attacks on universities and higher education infrastructure, which not only endanger the lives of students, faculty, and staff but also significantly limit the ability of higher education institutions to maintain educational activities that are already being operated under extreme scarcity due to war conditions. We stand in solidarity with scholars and students from Sudan who are working for the survival of Sudanese higher education. We condemn governmental decisions to restrict the movement of people from Sudan, which acts as a significant additional limitation on such efforts, and call on governments to facilitate connections between Sudanese higher education and their national higher education sectors. We invite the global community to join our call.