JUBA – South Sudan has summoned Sudan’s ambassador to protest a drone strike on a market in the disputed Abyei region that killed and wounded civilians, raising fresh concerns over security along the border between the two countries.
South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said Undersecretary Agnes Adlino Orifa Oswaha summoned Sudanese Ambassador Essam Mohamed Hassan Karar following the Oct. 19 attack on Amiet Market.
The ministry said the government conveyed its protest and concern over the strike and called for measures to prevent similar incidents and avoid further escalation in Abyei.
Local authorities said a drone struck Amiet Market in Ameth-Aguok County on Monday morning. They reported civilian deaths and injuries but initially provided no detailed casualty figures or assessment of the damage.
South Sudan condemned the attack and called for disputes involving Abyei to be addressed through diplomatic channels and established dialogue mechanisms.
Responsibility for the strike could not be independently verified. South Sudanese authorities attributed the attack to Sudan, while no detailed public response from the Sudanese military was immediately available.
Amiet is one of the main commercial centres in the Abyei area, serving local communities and traders moving between Sudan and South Sudan. Attacks on markets and transport routes in the territory risk affecting civilians as well as cross-border trade and movement.
Abyei has remained disputed between Sudan and South Sudan since the south became independent in 2011. Its final status has never been resolved, leaving the territory particularly vulnerable to political and security tensions between the two countries.
The latest incident also comes as Sudan’s war increasingly involves long-range drone operations, with strikes reported across Kordofan, Khartoum, Blue Nile and eastern parts of the country.
Sudan’s conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began in April 2023, has also affected communities and trade routes close to South Sudan and other neighboring countries.
Separately, videos circulated online showing fire and heavy smoke at the Saq al-Naam border market between Sudan and South Sudan following a reported aerial strike.
There was no independently verified information on casualties or damage from that incident, and it remained unclear whether it was connected to the attack on Amiet Market.
The latest diplomatic protest highlights the risk that Sudan’s expanding drone war could spill into already sensitive border areas and add pressure to relations between Khartoum and Juba.
