Sudan’s wartime capital hit by drone attacks for first time

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Sudan’s wartime capital was struck by a series of explosions on Tuesday as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces sought to use drones to expand the conflict deep into army-controlled territory.

The Red Sea city of Port Sudan became the de facto capital after the Sudanese armed forces were driven from Khartoum during a power struggle with erstwhile allies from the RSF two years ago.

The city, which has also become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the civil war elsewhere in the country, has been spared from the fighting until now.

The army has blamed the attacks on the RSF, which has not claimed responsibility.

The pan-continental African Union warned on Tuesday that targeting Port Sudan represented a “dangerous escalation in the ongoing conflict”, posing a direct threat to civilians and humanitarian access. All flights to the city have been suspended.

“Port Sudan has played a critical role as a logistical and humanitarian hub amid the current conflict. Any aggression targeting it not only threatens the safety of innocent people but also undermines ongoing efforts to stabilise the country,” the AU said.

Tuesday’s attacks targeted a fuel depot, military base and a hotel near where Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the transitional military council and de facto ruler, has temporary offices. Dense plumes of smoke hovered over parts of the city in the aftermath of the attack, which left Port Sudan without power.

The RSF has since Sunday used drones in a string of attacks targeting the city’s international airport, now the main national airport and principal route into the country for humanitarian aid, and other infrastructure.

Momentum in the civil war had shifted dramatically in recent months, with the army and associated Islamist militias retaking large swaths of territory in the west of the country, recapturing the war-damaged capital Khartoum, and forcing the RSF to retreat into the western Darfur provinces where they retain control over most territory.

But the army’s gains have left the country split between east and west, with much of the population facing acute hunger, and no imminent prospect of either a negotiated or military end to the war.

Meanwhile, the RSF’s access to sophisticated drones — apparently capable of evading air defences — marks a significant change of tactics, enabling the militia to cause widespread damage to infrastructure and impede army efforts to begin reconstruction without having forces on the ground.

RSF drones have also reportedly targeted the army-held cities of Kassala and El Obeid to the west, and the Merowe hydroelectric dam was hit last month, causing power outages in some areas.

The RSF, which was had its origins in the horse and camel borne “Janjaweed” militias that ravaged Darfur in the early part of the century, has been accused of committing horrific atrocities along the way, including the massacre of more than 30 civilians in the Darfur city of El Fasher last month.

The US has accused the RSF of committing genocide, and sanctioned both its commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, and Burhan.

In recent months, defence analysts have identified long range Chinese-made drones from aerial images of airfields in RSF-controlled Darfur. The Sudanese army, which has recently stocked up its own arsenal with Turkish-made drones, accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying the RSF.

However, an attempt by the army to hold the RSF’s alleged backers in the UAE to account on allegations of complicity in genocide at the International Court of Justice was thrown out on jurisdictional grounds on Monday in The Hague.

The UAE denies backing the paramilitary force. In a strongly worded statement on Monday, the UAE condemned the attacks on Port Sudan, calling them a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law”.