In brief
Sudan's power grid suffers 18 drone attacks in a week, hitting three substations in eastern and northern regions and causing widespread outages. The government accuses Ethiopia of supporting the RSF in these assaults and has filed complaints with the UN and AU. An RSF commander has reportedly defected after surrendering to army forces in Blue Nile state.
Drone strikes in Sudan have extended a sustained campaign against the country’s electricity network, hitting three substations on Monday and marking the 18th attack this week, Al Jazeera reports.
Early Monday, drones targeted facilities in New Halfa and Aroma in eastern Kassala state, while the al‑Ghazali substation in Northern State also suffered a strike, local media said. Video footage circulating on social media shows fires at the sites and civil defence teams attempting to fight them, though Al Jazeera could not immediately verify the footage.
The attacks have left large portions of Sudan without power, with outages reported across parts of the country, the outlet noted. The 18 total strikes in a single week underscore the intensity of the campaign against civil infrastructure.
Sudan’s military government has blamed Ethiopia for aiding the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in these attacks. On Sunday, the government filed complaints with the United Nations Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, alleging Addis Ababa’s involvement in the ongoing assaults on civilian power stations.
Amid the escalation, the army reported on Monday that a group of RSF members had defected by surrendering to its forces in Damazin, the capital of southeastern Blue Nile state. This claim follows a statement by senior RSF commander Siddiq Ander, shown in video footage obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera, that he had defected. The army said the event added to an increasing number of defections in Blue Nile state.
These developments highlight a growing escalation in Sudan’s internal conflict, with the government accusing external support for one side while also facing internal defections from the paramilitary group it has opposed.
