Updated

UNICEF said on Tuesday that long-range drone strikes and drought are closing in on Sudan, with attacks on the country's infrastructure described as unprecedented. The agency's spokesperson, James Elder, said at least 15 strikes hit power stations in October, with up to 15 power stations struck that month, and that some drones travel up to 1,500 kilometres before hitting their targets. UNICEF said it was impossible for humanitarian agencies to establish who was behind the strikes, and Elder said it was hard to see why the army would do so. Elder said that in Sudan, drone strikes have replaced earlier tactics such as suicide bombings, and that two in three child casualties this year were killed by armed drones. He said that when power stations are hit, water pumps and treatment stop, families turn to expensive and unsafe alternatives, and farmers lose the ability to irrigate crops because fuel shortages make generators too costly. UNICEF warned that disease is spreading, with pockets of cholera identified, and that an estimated 825,000 children under five are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition this year. Elder said UNICEF's response is only one-third funded.