Port Sudan airstrikes cause explosions, put humanitarian aid deliveries at risk

CBC

06-05-2025

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Explosions and fires rocked Sudan's wartime capital Port Sudan on Tuesday, a witness said, part of a days-long drone assault that has torched the country's biggest fuel depots and damaged its primary gateway for humanitarian aid.
The strikes included an unmanned aerial vehicle attack by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Port Sudan facilities, targeting the container terminal, British maritime security firm Ambrey reported.
The strikes were the most intense since the attack on Port Sudan began on Sunday, in a conflict in which drones have played an increasing role, helping army advances earlier this year.
Massive columns of black smoke billowed from Sudan's main strategic fuel caches near the port and airport on Tuesday, a witness in the city said, while strikes also hit an electricity substation and a hotel near the presidential residence.
The destruction of fuel facilities and damage to the airport and port risk intensifying Sudan's humanitarian crisis — which the UN calls the world's worst — by throttling aid deliveries by road and hitting power output and cooking gas supplies.
The war, triggered by a dispute over a transition to civilian rule, has displaced more than 12 million people and pushed half the population into acute hunger, according to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said on Tuesday that a deadly weekend bombing attack on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors WIthout Borders) hospital and pharmacy in South Sudan was deliberate and may amount to a war crime.
MSF said on Saturday that at least seven people had been killed and 20 wounded in South Sudan's Fangak county when a bomb was dropped on the pharmacy, burning it to the ground and damaging the hospital, followed by another drone attack on Old Fangak, a town in the Greater Upper Nile region.
"Targeting medical facilities and services violates the Geneva Conventions and represents a direct assault on foundations of humanitarian action that are intended to protect civilians in conflict zones," said Yasmin Sooka, chair of the commission, in a statement.
No one claimed responsibility for that attack.
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RSF paramilitary group blamed by military
Port Sudan had enjoyed relative calm since the civil war between the army and the RSF suddenly erupted in April 2023. The Red Sea city became the base for the army-aligned government after the RSF swept through much of the capital, Khartoum, at the start of the conflict.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have also sought refuge in the city, where UN officials, diplomats and agencies have set up headquarters, making it the main base for aid operations.
Inside Port Sudan, the attack on the electricity substation led to a power outage across the city while army units deployed around public buildings, the witness said.
Momentum in the conflict has repeatedly swung back and forth but neither side has looked likely to win outright. The drone strikes on Port Sudan open a new front, targeting the army's main stronghold in eastern Sudan after it drove the RSF back westwards across much of central Sudan, including Khartoum, in March.
Military sources have blamed the RSF for the attacks on Port Sudan since Sunday, though the group has not claimed any responsibility for the strikes.
The attacks came after a military source said the army had destroyed an aircraft and weapons depots in the RSF-controlled Nyala airport in Darfur, the paramilitary group's main stronghold.
Hunger, displacement
Sudan's conflict has drawn in regional powers seeking to build influence in a country strategically positioned along the Red Sea coast and with borders opening onto North African, Central African and Horn of Africa countries.
The attacks have drawn condemnation from neighbouring Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as expressions of concern from the United Nations.
Sudan's army-aligned government has accused the United Arab Emirates of backing the RSF, accusations that UN experts have found credible and continue to investigate. The UAE has denied backing the RSF, and the International Court of Justice on Monday said it could not rule in a case in which the government accused the UAE of fuelling genocide.
As the army pushed the RSF out of most of central Sudan, the paramilitary has made gains in more western and southern areas, while shifting tactics from ground incursions to drone attacks targeting power stations and other facilities deep in army-controlled territory.
The army has continued airstrikes in the Darfur region, the RSF's stronghold. The two forces continue to fight ground battles for control of al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state, and elsewhere as the battle lines in the war harden into distinct zones of control.