RSF drones knock out five Sudan power stations, blacking out the east

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces went after the grid itself, launching a coordinated drone attack on five power stations in the country's east, a government official said. Two stations were hit in Al-Jazira, two in Gedaref and one in White Nile, knocking out power across large parts of all three states. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

All three states are held by the Sudanese army, which has been fighting its former ally since April 2023. The war is now fought largely from the air, with both sides flying sophisticated drone attacks that can kill dozens of civilians at once. In just the first three weeks of October, drone strikes killed more than 300 people and wounded hundreds more, according to a UN tally.

The damage reaches far past dark rooms. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that repeated strikes on power stations threaten health and basic services for millions of people already living through the world's largest hunger crisis. Most of Sudan's hospitals have been forced to shut, at least 8 million children are out of school, and vast stretches of the country can't reach basic services. Aid workers estimate the war has killed more than 200,000 people in a nation of about 50 million.

In Gedaref, Babiker Youssef said the power in Al-Fao went out early in the morning and nobody knows when it returns. His son is diabetic, and the insulin has to stay cold. He told the Guardian he fears he won't be able to replace the medicine if it spoils. Past strikes have left electricity off for days at a stretch.

Further west in Al-Jazira, farmer Abdelhafez Daafallah, 54, was just starting to hope again. Service had improved three months ago, a destroyed station had finally been repaired, and he thought his irrigation pumps would run. Now that station is hit too, and he's frustrated after nearly four years unable to work his land. Farmers across Al-Jazira have struggled to replant since the army recaptured the state from the RSF last year.

In Gedaref, grocer Ibrahim Mohammed, 37, was already losing hours of power before the strike landed. Now he's staring at chicken in his fridge and weighing two bad options: lose the whole stock or dump it at any price. On top of it all, Sudan is battling unprecedented inflation, and the currency has shed more than 25% of its value in recent weeks.