Sudan Power Grid Hit as Drone Strikes Black Out Four States

Drone strikes on power stations in southeast Sudan on Monday cut electricity across four states, the latest Sudan power strikes to hit civilian infrastructure in the country’s civil war. Sudan’s state electricity company said the attacks knocked out power in Sennar, Al Qadarif, White Nile and Gezira, and blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the strikes.

The operator said the attacks caused severe damage and major destruction to equipment, warning that the outages threatened the national grid. The four states cover about half of the territory currently held by Sudan’s military.

FAKTA

• Drone strikes hit power stations in southeast Sudan on Monday, 26 October, cutting electricity across four states.
• The affected states are Sennar, Al Qadarif, White Nile and Gezira, according to the state electricity company.
• Sites named by the operator include Sinja, El Hawata, Al Fao and Mashkour, plus Al-Junaid in Gezira State.
• The operator blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces; the RSF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
• The electricity company’s account has not been independently verified.
• The United Nations has warned that attacks on power infrastructure threaten health care and other essential services for millions of people.

Sudan power strikes threaten wider grid

The stations hit on Monday sit across the southeast of the country, in areas controlled by Sudan’s army. The electricity company said the damage was severe, with major destruction to equipment at the affected facilities, and warned that the loss of so much capacity at once put the stability of the national grid itself at risk.

Power infrastructure has become a repeated target in the war, and striking it knocks out the systems that hospitals, water supplies and communications depend on.

Hospitals and services at risk

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that attacks on power infrastructure endanger health care and other essential services for millions of people already hit hard by the conflict. Hospitals rely on electricity for equipment, for storing medicines that must be kept cold, and for emergency care, while longer outages can also disrupt water pumping, communications and food storage.

For families in the affected states, the immediate worry is practical: how long the blackout will last, and what happens to food and medicine meanwhile.

A war increasingly fought by drone

Sudan’s army has been fighting the RSF since April 2023, when the two former allies fell out over plans for a transition to civilian rule and the integration of the paramilitary force into the army. Both sides have stepped up drone strikes in recent weeks, with attacks reported this month on Nyala, held by the RSF, and on Khartoum airport, held by the army.

October has already been deadly for drone warfare in Sudan, with a United Nations tally counting more than 300 people killed in drone strikes in the first three weeks of the month. Monday’s strikes show how that aerial campaign is now reaching deep into civilian infrastructure, far from the front lines.

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