In brief
A series of 18 drone attacks on Sudan’s electricity network this week has left widespread outages and intensified tensions, with the Sudanese government blaming Ethiopia for supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Meanwhile, an RSF commander announced his defection to the army, offering insights into supply lines and alleged Ethiopian aid.
The Sudanese army confirmed Monday that drone strikes had targeted three electricity substations—a commanding fate in the country’s return to power—and marked the 18th attack this week, causing significant outages across eastern and northern Sudan.
Local media reported the facilities hit on Monday early in the morning: New Halfa and Aroma in eastern Kassala state, and the al‑Ghazali substation in the Northern State. Videos that circulated on social media appeared to show fires at the facilities with civil defence teams attempting to extinguish them. Al Jazeera was not able to immediately verify the footage, according to its reporters.
In a statement sent to the United Nations Security Council, the Sudanese military government said it had filed complaints against Ethiopia, accusing Addis Ababa of helping the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to carry out the attacks on civilian infrastructure and power stations. The army also added that it had filed a similar complaint with the African Union’s Peace and Security Council.
At the same time, the army reported that a group of RSF members had defected by surrendering to its forces in Damazin, the capital of southeastern Blue Nile state. The announcement followed a video claim by senior RSF commander Siddiq Ander that he had defected to the army, according to footage Al Jazeera ran exclusively.
Accusations and Counter‑Statements
The Sudanese government portrays Ethiopia as a supporter of the RSF, stating that Addis Ababa has “provided Ethiopian support” for the RSF in the region. The accusation comes against the backdrop of the RSF’s ongoing conflict with the army, which began in April 2023.
RSF commander Siddiq Ander, in his video statement, said he had defected to the army and that he was “providing information concerning the management of military operations in Damazin.” He mentioned that he had knowledge of “Ethiopian support” for the RSF, but he did not explicitly accuse the Ethiopian government of directly sponsoring the attacks.
The military’s announcement of defections can be seen as a counter to the Sudanese government’s claims about Ethiopian involvement, as it suggests there is at least some inside knowledge reaching the army about the RSF’s ties to Addis Ababa.
The United Nations and the African Union, meanwhile, have yet to issue a public comment on the accusations filed by the Sudanese military. No statements from Ethiopia itself appear in the current reporting.
Meanwhile, the civilian population has felt the full effect of the attacks. Power outages have spread across parts of the country, leaving citizens in incomplete blackouts. Civil defence teams working in the affected areas testified that they had struggled to extinguish fires caused by the strikes.
Given the continued increase in the number of strikes, Sudan’s electricity infrastructure faces an extended period of vulnerability. The army’s confirmation of a recent RSF defection could indicate emerging intelligence that may alter the dynamic of the conflict, but the precise role of the government, the RSF and Ethiopia remains contested.
In the days ahead, the Sudanese military is likely to pursue diplomatic action against Ethiopia, though the short‑term scene of the attacks, the fact that the RSF has offered at least one defector to the army, and the lack of an official Ethiopian response create a complex, multi‑framed situation for observers.
In the absence of conclusive verification from independent sources, the situation remains afloat between the armed forces’ claims, the RSF’s statements and the two separate accusations they submitted to international bodies.
For now, the eight‑day “campaign” of drone attacks remains a central issue to the ongoing Sudanese conflict, with both sides framing the narrative around accusations of foreign involvement and internal defection, and the overarching narrative tying the attacks to the power crisis affecting all of the national grid.
These events also raise questions about the proximity of civilian infrastructure to theaters of conflict, as the attacks explicitly target power facilities rather than only military operations. The broader significance of how such infrastructure is protected—or not protected—continues to be debated across local, regional and international media.
