'Accountability Desert' — Civilian Casualties Rise as AI Blurs the Lines of War

KADUNA, Nigeria — The December 2023 drone strike on Tudun Biri village remains seared into the memory of survivors and military investigators alike. Mistaking a religious festival for an insurgent camp, the Nigerian military killed at least 85 civilians and wounded dozens more. No commander was held accountable; no independent audit was ever conducted. The strike has since become a global case study in what researchers now term an “accountability desert.”

An accountability desert, as defined in a new study published in the Journal of Applied Security Research, is a legal and ethical void where AI-powered military systems operate without transparent rules of engagement, independent oversight mechanisms, or post-strike judicial review. The study warns that the use of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) is racing ahead of regulatory frameworks across Africa. “In at least ten African countries, algorithms are making de facto kill decisions with no human-in-the-loop requirement,” the authors wrote.

The consequences are already visible and mounting in Sudan, where drones have become the leading cause of civilian death, accounting for over 80 percent of conflict-related fatalities. At least 2,670 people were killed in drone strikes in Sudan in 2025 alone, a 600 percent increase from the previous year, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) use drones with visual monitoring technology capable of distinguishing targets — technology that has been linked to strikes on hospitals, dams, and crowded markets.

The Iran War has intensified this problem by flooding African conflict zones with cheap, AI-enabled drones diverted from Middle Eastern stockpiles. Investigators have documented at least three cases where Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drones, originally destined for proxy forces in the Gulf, were intercepted in transit to non-state actors in the Sahel. These drones come pre-loaded with targeting algorithms that have not been calibrated for African terrain or civilian behavior patterns, increasing the risk of false positives.

A legal analysis focusing on Nigeria warns that the opacity and absence of human judgment in fully autonomous systems render compliance with International Humanitarian Law “highly problematic, if not impossible.” The study calls for mandatory “human-in-the-loop” requirements for all lethal strikes, as well as the creation of independent civilian review boards. To date, no African nation has adopted such standards.

“When a pilot drops a bomb, there is a chain of command and a record,” said Human Rights Watch researcher Fatima Mohamed, speaking from Nairobi. “When an AI system decides to engage, there is often no log, no commander, and no accountability. The Tudun Biri massacre will happen again — and again — unless African governments close the accountability desert before the next algorithm pulls the trigger.”