In brief
In a sustained campaign, drone strikes have damaged three key electricity substations in eastern and northern Sudan, bringing the total to 18 attacks this week and triggering widespread outages. The Sudanese government blames Ethiopia for assisting the Rapid Support Forces, while an RSF commander has surrendered to army forces, adding new defection news amid the ongoing conflict.
Sunday’s drone attack on Sudan’s power grid corrupted the electric supply across large swaths of the country as the Sudanese Army announced electricity outages following strikes on three substations in the eastern Kassala state and the northern region. The attacks brought the total number of reported drone strikes on the nation’s power system to 18 over the past week.
Sudan’s military says the latest attacks were carried out with help from Ethiopian forces, alleging that Addis Ababa is backing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in supplying the drones that hit the three facilities. The government has filed complaints against Ethiopia at the United Nations Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, though independent verification of the claims has not yet been reported.
The army has informed the public that a group of Rapid Support Forces members surrendered in Damazin, a capital of southeastern Blue Nile state, after a statement by senior RSF commander Siddiq Ander declaring his defect.
In a separate announcement, the army said the commander had provided information on military operations in Damazin, noting the involvement of Ethiopian support. The detail adds to open uncertainty regarding the extent of Ethiopia’s role in the campaign, with international bodies yet to publicly comment. At least one other RSF commander has also claimed he has defected after surrendering to army forces, a confession confirmed only by the Sudanese Army itself.
The government’s statement also stressed that the RSF’s new defections were part of a growing trend of the paramilitary group’s leaders abandoning the fight. Opposition to the continued attacks remains high, with local media reports of fires and the civil defence forces’ attempts to extinguish them. However, the footage circulated on social media has not been independently verified by the Al Jazeera team, leaving the authenticity and extent of the damage still subject to confirmation.
