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Middle East Eye
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Sudan war intensifies in Kordofan as RSF razes villages
A village in the Sudanese state of North Kordofan was razed to the ground after a massacre by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries, new satellite imagery shows. Hundreds of civilians were killed by the RSF on Saturday and Sunday as its war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) intensifies in the strategically vital Kordofan region. Images collected by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which has monitored the war in Sudan since it began in April 2023, show the smouldering ruins of the Shaq al-Noum, one of several villages in North Kordofan attacked by the RSF over the weekend. The HRL identified smoke rising from several recently razed structures as well as disjoined areas of thermal scarring 'indicative of intentional arson attacks'. Also visible, it said, was a pattern consistent with vehicle tracks 'around buildings and throughout the community'. More than 200 civilians are believed to have been killed, most of them burned alive in their homes or shot dead, in the attack on Shaq al-Noum, which began on 12 July. The massacre is believed to be one of the deadliest to have taken place during the war in Sudan. Footage reportedly shot in Shaq al-Noum and cited by Sudan War Monitor showed structures ablaze and RSF troops running between houses. Shouts and gunfire could also be heard. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The Emergency Lawyers human rights group said at least 38 others were killed in simultaneous massacres in the nearby villages of Fojah, Umm Nabag, Jakouh and Mishqah, while dozens were forcibly disappeared or detained. Faheem, a man from one of these villages, told campaign group Avaaz that the RSF had arrived in his village, Fojah, in a convoy of around 30 vehicles. 'The vehicles surrounded the village, forced people to line up, and began detonating explosives in homes,' he said. 'Our houses are mostly made of straw, so fires broke out quickly. 'I saw my aunt's house burning. She's one of the oldest women in the village. I grabbed my children and we ran. We didn't hear from anyone else.' The importance of Kordofan Kholood Khair, a Sudanese analyst and founder of the Confluence Advisory think tank, told Middle East Eye that the intensification of 'back and forth' fighting across Kordofan was reminiscent of the beginning of the war, when the two sides were yet to settle into their respective power bases - the RSF in the western region of Darfur, the army in the central and eastern areas of the country. The city of el-Obeid, a strategically vital point that sits close to roads that run to Darfur and to the capital Khartoum, is held by the army but was previously under an RSF siege. The paramilitaries are now shelling it again to try and wrest back control. On 13 July, 46 civilians, including pregnant women and children, were killed in an RSF attack on the village of Hilat Hamid, close to the town of Bara, which has been under paramilitary control for most of the war. Egypt hosts secret talks between Sudan's Burhan and Libya's Haftar in bid to mend ties, sources say Read More » In West Kordofan, SAF air strikes killed at least 23 civilians from 10 to 14 July, and on 17 July at least 11 more civilians were killed in another strike in the Bara locality. 'Kordofan is now the strategic point,' Khair said. Key roads run through North Kordofan to el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur besieged by the RSF, and Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman, which have recently been retaken by the army. With Sudan's rainy season at its worst between June and September, Khair said that both the RSF and the army are looking to make gains in Kordofan to mount offensives on el-Fasher or Omdurman when the dry weather comes in October and November. Witnesses told MEE that drones are being used by both sides across Kordofan - as they are in other parts of Sudan. The back and forth fighting comes as both sides await a diplomatic intervention from international actors - particularly the US administration of President Donald Trump. 'Both sides very much want to pursue a military push while they are putting in place all the necessary conditions for themselves ahead of any diplomatic mediation - particularly from the US,' Khair said. Sudan's army-led government is being run from Port Sudan, on the Red Sea coast, while the RSF has set up a governing alliance in Nyala, South Darfur. Humanitarian operations The intensification of fighting across Kordofan has 'badly affected' the operations of aid agencies there, Shihab Mohamed Ali, a senior programme manager for Islamic Relief in Sudan, told MEE. The charity runs 36 health centres in West Kordofan and 48 health centres in North Kordofan in collaboration with the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) and Unicef. Islamic Relief distributes food, water and cash to Sudanese civilians whose lives have been upended by the war, which has now forced over 12 million people to flee their homes. How Trump's assault on USAID 'will lead to surging mortality' in Sudan Read More » Two Islamic Relief offices in West Kordofan have been looted - one in August 2024, the other in May 2025, Ali said. In both cases, the looting took place in the midst of RSF invasions, though the charity cannot say for sure who was responsible. 'Most parts of West Kordofan are under RSF occupation and the conflict is continuous,' Ali said. 'In that state, Islamic Relief, Unicef and the WFP are trying to distribute aid.' Ali said that away from Kordofan, 'the situation is improving. The local community has played a great role with the community kitchens, where they provide food for people,' referring to the kitchens run by Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms, a network of mutual aid groups. 'They have managed to pass a difficult time,' Ali said, referring partly to the threatened withdrawal of US funding following the dismantling of USAID. 'But the situation is improving in different parts of the country.'
Al Jazeera
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Who will feed Sudanese refugees?
Millions of Sudanese who have fled to neighbouring countries face the risk of hunger. The World Food Programme has sounded an alarm, saying it may have to reduce its aid operations for Sudanese refugees because of cutbacks in its funding. Four million refugees are in countries neighbouring Sudan after fleeing from the ongoing civil war, and most of them rely on aid. list of 3 items list 1 of 3 list 2 of 3 list 3 of 3 end of list But that was put in jeopardy after United States President Donald Trump's administration slashed overseas aid budgets this year. The European Union, the United Kingdom and Germany have also cut their foreign aid as some nations switch funding to invest in defence. So who else can step in to fill the gap? And what will happen to the people who depend on aid to survive? Presenter: James Bays Guests Carl Skau, World Food Programme's deputy executive director and chief operating officer Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation Kholood Khair, political analyst and founding director at the Confluence Advisory think tank
Arab News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Drones drag Sudan war into dangerous new territory
CAIRO: Paramilitary drone strikes targeting Sudan's wartime capital have sought to shatter the regular army's sense of security and open a dangerous new chapter in the war, experts say. Since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group has been at war with the army, which has recently recaptured some territory and dislodged the paramilitaries from the capital Khartoum. The latter appeared to have the upper hand before Sunday, when drone strikes began blasting key infrastructure in Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government on the Red Sea coast. With daily strikes on the city since then, the RSF has sought to demonstrate its strength, discredit the army, disrupt its supply lines and project an air of legitimacy, experts believe. According to Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair, 'this is intended to undermine the army's ability to provide safety and security in areas they control,' allowing the RSF to expand the war 'without physically being there.' For two years, the paramilitaries relied mainly on lightning ground offensives, overwhelming army defenses in brutal campaigns of conquest. But after losing nearly all of Khartoum in March, the RSF has increasingly turned to long-range air power. RSF has hit strategic sites hundreds of kilometers (miles) away from their holdout positions on the capital's outskirts. Michael Jones, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, says the RSF's pivot is a matter of both 'strategic adaptation' and 'if not desperation, then necessity.' 'The loss of Khartoum was both a strategic and symbolic setback,' he told AFP. In response, the RSF needed to broadcast a 'message that the war isn't over,' according to Sudanese analyst Hamid Khalafallah. The conflict between Sudan's de facto leader, army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has split Africa's third-largest country in two. The army holds the center, north and east, while the RSF controls nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south. 'It's unlikely that the RSF can retake Khartoum or reach Port Sudan by land, but drones enable them to create a sense of fear and destabilize cities' formerly considered safe, Khalafallah told AFP. With drones and loitering munitions, it can 'reach areas it hasn't previously infiltrated successfully,' Jones said. According to a retired Sudanese general, the RSF has been known to use two types of drone — makeshift lightweight models with 120mm mortar rounds that explode on impact, and long-range drones capable of delivering guided missiles, including the Chinese-manufactured CH95. According to Mohaned Elnour, nonresident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, the RSF's 'main objective is to divert the army's attention' and position itself as a potential government, which it has said it will form. 'It's much easier for them to attack quickly and withdraw, rather than defend territory,' Elnour said. Crossing Sudan's vast landmass — some 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from RSF bases in Darfur to Port Sudan — requires long-range drones such as the Chinese-made Wing Loong II, or the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 used by the army, according to Amnesty. Both sides in Sudan are in a race to 'destroy each other's drone capacity,' Khair said. Two years into the devastating war, the RSF has another incentive to rely on drones, she said. 'It allows them to spare their troops' after reports that RSF recruitment has dipped since the war began. 'Initial recruitment was high based on the opportunity to loot, and there's very little left to loot now,' she said. Both sides have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilians, but the RSF is specifically accused of rampant looting, ethnic cleansing and systematic sexual violence.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Drone attacks raise stakes in new phase of Sudan's civil war
Paramilitary fighters appear to have opened a new phase in Sudan's civil war after being driven from the capital, in a move which some experts have described as a "shock and awe campaign". Just weeks after the army celebrated the recapture of Khartoum, its foe the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a series of unprecedented drone strikes on Port Sudan in the east of the country. The attacks have led to worsening power blackouts, as well as city residents facing water shortages. "It's a level of power projection within this region that we haven't seen yet," says Alan Boswell, the Horn of Africa expert for the International Crisis Group. "I think it raises the stakes quite a bit," he added. The barrage of attacks on the war-time capital and humanitarian hub signals that the RSF is determined and able to carry on the fight despite significant territorial losses. And it has showcased the growth of advanced drone warfare in Africa. Drones have played an increasing role in the conflict, which has entered its third year. The war began as a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF and has drawn in other Sudanese armed groups and foreign backers, plunging the country into what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) helped the army advance earlier this year. And the RSF escalated its own use of drones as it was pushed out of central Sudan, especially Khartoum, back towards its traditional stronghold in the west of the country. In recent months the paramilitaries had stepped up drone strikes on critical civilian infrastructure in army-controlled areas, such as dams and power stations. But their sustained attacks on Port Sudan, until now seen as a safe haven home to government officials, diplomats and humanitarian organisations, underlined a shift in strategy to a greater emphasis on remote warfare, and aimed to demonstrate strength. "The RSF is trying to show that they don't need to reach Port Sudan by land in order to be able to have an impact there," says Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair. The group is trying to achieve a "narrative shift" away from "the triumphant SAF that took over Khartoum," she says. "It is saying to the Sudanese Armed Forces: 'You can take Khartoum back, but you'll never be able to govern it. You can have Port Sudan, but you won't be able to govern it, because we will cause a security crisis for you so large that it will be ungovernable'... They want to unequivocally show that the war is not over until they say so." The paramilitary group has not directly addressed the Port Sudan drone attacks. Rather, it has repeated its assertion that the SAF is supported by Iran and accused the armed forces of targeting civilian infrastructure and state institutions, calling the military strikes on Khartoum and RSF-held areas in the west and south of the country war crimes. Both sides stand accused of war crimes which they have denied, but the RSF has been singled out over allegations of mass rape and genocide. The change in its tactics may have been triggered by battlefield necessity, but is possible because of technological advancement. The RSF had previously used what are known as suicide or loitering drones, small UAVs with explosive payloads that are designed to crash into targets and can carry out coordinated attacks. It seems to have deployed this method in Port Sudan, with the commander of the Red Sea Military Zone Mahjoub Bushra describing a swarm of 11 Kamikaze drones in the first strike on a military airbase. He said the army shot them down, but they turned out to be a tactical distraction to divert attention from a single strategic drone that successfully struck the base. The make of this drone is not clear. But satellite images reported by Yale researchers and the Reuters news agency have shown advanced UAVs at an airport in South Darfur since the beginning of the year. The defence intelligence company Janes has determined them to most likely be sophisticated Chinese manufactured CH-95s, capable of long-range strikes. Jeremy Binnie, an Africa and Middle East analyst at Jane's, told the BBC that photos of what appear to be the remnants of the smaller kamikaze drones suggest they are probably a different version than the RSF had used before, and might be better at penetrating air defences because of their shape. One regional observer suggested the RSF had been able to breach the SAF's anti-drone technology with signal jammers attached to the drones, but cautioned this was still unproven. The South Darfur airport in Nyala, the presumptive capital and military base of the Rapid Support Forces, has been repeatedly bombed by the SAF, which destroyed an aircraft there earlier this month. Some experts see the RSF's bombardment of Port Sudan at least partly as retaliation. Inside Khartoum, a city left in ruins Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening The escalating drone warfare has again highlighted the role of foreign actors in Sudan's civil conflict. "This is a war of technology," says Justin Lynch, managing director at Conflict Insights Group, a data analytics and research organisation. "That's why the foreign supporters are so important, because it's not like the RSF is making the weapons themselves. They're being given this stuff." The army has accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of supplying the paramilitary fighters with the drones, and cut diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi because of the attacks. The UAE has strongly rejected the charges. It has long denied reports from UN experts, US politicians and international organisations that it is providing weaponry to the RSF. But Mr Lynch says the evidence is overwhelming. He was the lead author of a US State Department-funded report late last year that concluded with "near certainty" the the UAE was facilitating weapons to the RSF by monitoring imagery and flight patterns of airlines previously implicated in violating a UN arms embargo. He told the BBC it would be surprising if the Emiratis were not helping deliver the drones used in the Port Sudan attacks. He also determined with similar near-certainty that the Iranians were supplying weapons to the SAF, and he helped authenticate documents provided to the Washington Post that detail the sale of drones and warheads to the army by a Turkish defence firm. Iran has not responded to the allegations. Turkish officials have denied involvement. The increasing use of drones by both sides may be redefining the war, but it is the ability of the RSF to strike strategic targets hundreds of kilometres from its positions that has rattled the region. Over a week of daily attacks on Port Sudan, the paramilitaries hit the country's only working international airport, a power station, several fuel depots, and the air base, apparently trying to disrupt the army's supply lines. The city is also the main entry port for relief supplies and the UN has warned that this "major escalation" could further complicate aid operations in the country and lead to large-scale civilian casualties. "This was such a shock and awe campaign that it has not only stunned SAF, I think it's also stunned Egypt, Saudi Arabia, others who were behind SAF, and remakes the entire war," says Mr Boswell, adding that it closing the gap in air power between the RSF and the army. "The RSF is widely viewed as a non-state actor," he says "and normally, groups like that can muster quite a bit of an insurgent force. But the government with the air force is the one that always has the aerial capacity, and this just turns all those old adages on its head." The development has triggered comparisons to the long-range drone warfare between Russia and Ukraine. "These weapons have more precision, you don't need a manned aircraft any more, and they are much more affordable than operating sophisticated jets," says Mr Binnie. "This is part of a broader trend in technological proliferation where you can see what used to be really high-end capabilities being used in a civil war in sub-Saharan Africa." The Sudanese foreign ministry has warned that the attacks threaten regional security and the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, calling on international actors to take "effective action against the regional sponsor of the militia," a reference to the UAE. Mr Lynch believes that only an agreement between the UAE and the Sudanese army will end the war. "This war is always evolving, always changing," he says, "but you'll see it will continue for years and decades unless there is serious diplomatic action to stop it." WATCH: 'They ransacked my home, and left my town in ruins' The children living between starvation and death BBC reporter: My heartbreaking decision to leave Sudan Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Africa Daily Focus on Africa
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Drone attacks raise stakes in new phase of Sudan's civil war
Paramilitary fighters appear to have opened a new phase in Sudan's civil war after being driven from the capital, in a move which some experts have described as a "shock and awe campaign". Just weeks after the army celebrated the recapture of Khartoum, its foe the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a series of unprecedented drone strikes on Port Sudan in the east of the country. The attacks have led to worsening power blackouts, as well as city residents facing water shortages. "It's a level of power projection within this region that we haven't seen yet," says Alan Boswell, the Horn of Africa expert for the International Crisis Group. "I think it raises the stakes quite a bit," he added. The barrage of attacks on the war-time capital and humanitarian hub signals that the RSF is determined and able to carry on the fight despite significant territorial losses. And it has showcased the growth of advanced drone warfare in Africa. Drones have played an increasing role in the conflict, which has entered its third year. The war began as a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF and has drawn in other Sudanese armed groups and foreign backers, plunging the country into what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) helped the army advance earlier this year. And the RSF escalated its own use of drones as it was pushed out of central Sudan, especially Khartoum, back towards its traditional stronghold in the west of the country. In recent months the paramilitaries had stepped up drone strikes on critical civilian infrastructure in army-controlled areas, such as dams and power stations. But their sustained attacks on Port Sudan, until now seen as a safe haven home to government officials, diplomats and humanitarian organisations, underlined a shift in strategy to a greater emphasis on remote warfare, and aimed to demonstrate strength. "The RSF is trying to show that they don't need to reach Port Sudan by land in order to be able to have an impact there," says Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair. The group is trying to achieve a "narrative shift" away from "the triumphant SAF that took over Khartoum," she says. "It is saying to the Sudanese Armed Forces: 'You can take Khartoum back, but you'll never be able to govern it. You can have Port Sudan, but you won't be able to govern it, because we will cause a security crisis for you so large that it will be ungovernable'... They want to unequivocally show that the war is not over until they say so." The paramilitary group has not directly addressed the Port Sudan drone attacks. Rather, it has repeated its assertion that the SAF is supported by Iran and accused the armed forces of targeting civilian infrastructure and state institutions, calling the military strikes on Khartoum and RSF-held areas in the west and south of the country war crimes. Both sides stand accused of war crimes which they have denied, but the RSF has been singled out over allegations of mass rape and genocide. The change in its tactics may have been triggered by battlefield necessity, but is possible because of technological advancement. The RSF had previously used what are known as suicide or loitering drones, small UAVs with explosive payloads that are designed to crash into targets and can carry out coordinated attacks. It seems to have deployed this method in Port Sudan, with the commander of the Red Sea Military Zone Mahjoub Bushra describing a swarm of 11 Kamikaze drones in the first strike on a military airbase. He said the army shot them down, but they turned out to be a tactical distraction to divert attention from a single strategic drone that successfully struck the base. The make of this drone is not clear. But satellite images reported by Yale researchers and the Reuters news agency have shown advanced UAVs at an airport in South Darfur since the beginning of the year. The defence intelligence company Janes has determined them to most likely be sophisticated Chinese manufactured CH-95s, capable of long-range strikes. Jeremy Binnie, an Africa and Middle East analyst at Jane's, told the BBC that photos of what appear to be the remnants of the smaller kamikaze drones suggest they are probably a different version than the RSF had used before, and might be better at penetrating air defences because of their shape. One regional observer suggested the RSF had been able to breach the SAF's anti-drone technology with signal jammers attached to the drones, but cautioned this was still unproven. The South Darfur airport in Nyala, the presumptive capital and military base of the Rapid Support Forces, has been repeatedly bombed by the SAF, which destroyed an aircraft there earlier this month. Some experts see the RSF's bombardment of Port Sudan at least partly as retaliation. Inside Khartoum, a city left in ruins Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening The escalating drone warfare has again highlighted the role of foreign actors in Sudan's civil conflict. "This is a war of technology," says Justin Lynch, managing director at Conflict Insights Group, a data analytics and research organisation. "That's why the foreign supporters are so important, because it's not like the RSF is making the weapons themselves. They're being given this stuff." The army has accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of supplying the paramilitary fighters with the drones, and cut diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi because of the attacks. The UAE has strongly rejected the charges. It has long denied reports from UN experts, US politicians and international organisations that it is providing weaponry to the RSF. But Mr Lynch says the evidence is overwhelming. He was the lead author of a US State Department-funded report late last year that concluded with "near certainty" the the UAE was facilitating weapons to the RSF by monitoring imagery and flight patterns of airlines previously implicated in violating a UN arms embargo. He told the BBC it would be surprising if the Emiratis were not helping deliver the drones used in the Port Sudan attacks. He also determined with similar near-certainty that the Iranians were supplying weapons to the SAF, and he helped authenticate documents provided to the Washington Post that detail the sale of drones and warheads to the army by a Turkish defence firm. Iran has not responded to the allegations. Turkish officials have denied involvement. The increasing use of drones by both sides may be redefining the war, but it is the ability of the RSF to strike strategic targets hundreds of kilometres from its positions that has rattled the region. Over a week of daily attacks on Port Sudan, the paramilitaries hit the country's only working international airport, a power station, several fuel depots, and the air base, apparently trying to disrupt the army's supply lines. The city is also the main entry port for relief supplies and the UN has warned that this "major escalation" could further complicate aid operations in the country and lead to large-scale civilian casualties. "This was such a shock and awe campaign that it has not only stunned SAF, I think it's also stunned Egypt, Saudi Arabia, others who were behind SAF, and remakes the entire war," says Mr Boswell, adding that it closing the gap in air power between the RSF and the army. "The RSF is widely viewed as a non-state actor," he says "and normally, groups like that can muster quite a bit of an insurgent force. But the government with the air force is the one that always has the aerial capacity, and this just turns all those old adages on its head." The development has triggered comparisons to the long-range drone warfare between Russia and Ukraine. "These weapons have more precision, you don't need a manned aircraft any more, and they are much more affordable than operating sophisticated jets," says Mr Binnie. "This is part of a broader trend in technological proliferation where you can see what used to be really high-end capabilities being used in a civil war in sub-Saharan Africa." The Sudanese foreign ministry has warned that the attacks threaten regional security and the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, calling on international actors to take "effective action against the regional sponsor of the militia," a reference to the UAE. Mr Lynch believes that only an agreement between the UAE and the Sudanese army will end the war. "This war is always evolving, always changing," he says, "but you'll see it will continue for years and decades unless there is serious diplomatic action to stop it." WATCH: 'They ransacked my home, and left my town in ruins' The children living between starvation and death BBC reporter: My heartbreaking decision to leave Sudan Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Africa Daily Focus on Africa
