Explosions hit Sudan's key city in third day of attacks by paramilitaries

The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) early Tuesday carried out drone strikes targeting the seaport and airport in the city of Port Sudan, eastern Sudan.

Fires broke out at Port Sudan city's airport and seaport, following the sound of loud explosions that resulted from an apparent drone attack, according to an Anadolu news agency correspondent.

Another drone targeted the main army base in the city centre, an army official told AFP, and witnesses said a nearby hotel was hit. Both sites are close to the residence of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who has been at war with his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the RSF commander, since April 2023.

It’s the third straight day the Sudanese army-aligned government's seat of power has come under attack. The government has yet to comment on the attack.

Safe-haven

Following the attack, several flights at the Port Sudan airport were delayed or rescheduled, according to a source inside the airport.

The strikes come a day after the country's main fuel depot was hit, causing a massive blaze just south of the eastern city which had until Sunday been considered a safe-haven for hundreds of thousands of displaced people fleeing the two-year war.

The RSF has increasingly relied on drones since losing territory including nearly all of Khartoum in March, attacking deep into army-held territory.

On Monday, UN chief Antonio Guterres said reports of paramilitary attacks on Port Sudan were a "worrying development threatening the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations".

Humanitarian aid

Nearly all humanitarian aid into Sudan, where famine has already been declared and nearly 25 million people suffer dire food insecurity, arrives through Port Sudan.

Sudan's war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 13 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

It has effectively split the country in two, with the army controlling the centre, north and east while the RSF holds nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south.

According to experts, the RSF's increased reliance on drones after it lost Khartoum serves to both telegraph its reach and hinder the army's supply lines. The RSF has used both makeshift and highly advanced drones, which Sudan's army has accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying.

The International Court of Justice on Monday threw out a case brought by Sudan against the UAE, accusing it of complicity in genocide by supporting the RSF.