Paramilitary drones destroy five Sudanese power stations, plunging east into darkness
Coordinated strikes on infrastructure in three army-controlled states have severed electricity for millions, threatening medical supplies and agricultural revival.
By Gabriela Ivanov ·
Five power stations in eastern Sudan lost functionality after the Rapid Support Forces launched a coordinated drone campaign against electrical infrastructure, according to a government official. The strikes targeted two facilities in Al-Jazira state, two in Gedaref state, and one in White Nile state. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that the attacks resulted in widespread outages across large portions of all three regions.
The three affected states remain under the control of the Sudanese army, which has been engaged in a war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023. The United Nations has issued repeated warnings that sustained attacks on power grids endanger health services for millions of residents already facing the world's largest hunger crisis. In the first three weeks of October, drone strikes killed more than 300 people and injured hundreds more, according to UN tallies. The conflict, which has killed an estimated 200,000 people, is now fought primarily through aerial attacks.
Residents described the immediate impact on daily life and health care. Babiker Youssef, a resident of Al-Fao in Gedaref, reported that power had been out since early that morning. He noted that his son is diabetic and requires refrigeration for insulin. "We have no idea when the power will come back," Youssef said. He expressed fear that the medication would spoil and could not be replaced. In Al-Jazira’s Al-Junaid town, Abdelhafez Daafallah, a 54-year-old farmer, said electricity had only begun to improve three months prior. A recently repaired power station had allowed hope for irrigation pumps to resume operation. "We hoped we would be able to finally get back to farming, but now the station has been hit," Daafallah said. Farmers in the region have struggled to replant land since the army recaptured the state from the RSF last year.
Commercial businesses are also suffering financial losses due to the interruptions. Ibrahim Mohammed, a 37-year-old grocer in Gedaref, stated he was already experiencing power cuts for hours before the latest strike. "Now I have chicken in the fridge, we either lose our entire stock, or will be forced to sell it off at any price, which is still a loss," he said. The outages add to economic pressures in the country, which is grappling with a currency that lost more than 25% of its value in recent weeks.
Sudan’s majority of hospitals have been forced to close, and at least 8 million children are out of school. The country, home to an estimated 50 million people, faces a critical gap in basic services as the war continues. The next scheduled phase of the conflict involves continued drone operations by both the army and the RSF across the region.
