Sudan Back on Verge of Blackout after RSF Drone Strikes Hit Grid
RSF drone strikes crippled substations in Al Dabbah and Abu Hamad, leaving Sudan near total power grid collapse after a week of infrastructure attacks.
POLICY WIRE — Cairo, Egypt — Sudan’s electrical infrastructure is on the brink of complete failure following a sustained campaign of drone attacks on power facilities in army-controlled regions. The latest wave of strikes targeted critical substations, threatening to plunge the nation into widespread darkness.
On Sunday, explosions at power substations in the northern towns of Al Dabbah and Abu Hamad severed electricity supplies for local residents. These attacks marked the most recent incident in a brutal week of bombardments against civilian energy infrastructure.
A civilian lost their life in a separate strike on a fuel depot, underscoring the lethal toll these operations are taking on non-military targets. The violence highlights the escalating risk to daily life as the conflict intensifies.
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are responsible for a coordinated offensive that hit five power plants, triggering massive outages across the eastern part of the country, according to a government official. The scale of the disruption has left vast communities without essential services.
On Monday, the RSF allegedly executed drone strikes on five substations spread across four different states. These attacks caused extensive blackouts and inflicted severe damage on the country’s critical electrical network.
The state-owned Sudan Electricity Holding Company confirmed in a public statement that the bombarding specifically focused on facilities in the central states of Al-Jazirah and Sennar. The conflict is rapidly degrading the nation’s ability to maintain basic infrastructure.
Other targets included sites in the eastern Al-Qadarif region and additional locations in the White Nile and El Gezira states. The strikes led to power cuts affecting broad swaths of the population in these areas.
The campaign represents a broader intensification of drone warfare aimed at civilian economic and social hubs, including local markets. This trend signals a deepening deterioration of the humanitarian situation on the ground.
Specific targets on Monday included power stations in El Faw and El Hawa within the western El Gedaref State. The attacks also extended to facilities throughout Sennar State, further fragmenting the regional grid.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
