UAE-backed militia’s drones plunge Sudanese cities into darkness

A Rapid Support Force (RSF) drone attack knocked out power in major Sudanese cities.The UAE-backed Arab supremacist militia struck a key power station in Atbara, River Nile state. Electricity went out in government-controlled Khartoum and Port Sudan.

The RSF and Sudanese military have been fighting over territory and resources for over two years. 150,000 people have been killed and up to millions displaced. RSF is backed by the UAE. The Sudanese government is supported by Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Al Jazeera reported:

Two civil defence members were killed, power plant officials said, while trying to extinguish the fire that erupted after the first strike, adding that rescue workers were injured when a second drone hit as they battled the flames.

Footage of the strike shows roaring flames engulfing parts of the facility:

Al Jazeera reported Mohamed Vall told the channel:

We have seen this many times during the during this current year and the last year. The RSF drones are going thousands of kilometres across Sudan because they think it is a way to weaken the government and to prove to the population they can’t be protected by this military government.

Democracy Now interviewed Canada-based Sudanese scholar Khalid Mustafi Medani:

Madani’s interview accompanied an analysis published on Zenodo.

He said the war was partly driven by “a power struggle”:

between groups representing traditional and modern segments of Sudanese civil society.

But Sudan’s issues are also a result of the failure “of previous regimes”:

to resolve the ethnic divisions dating back to the colonial era.

Regional and global players have interest in Sudan — including a former coloniser: Britain.

UAE, Saudi and others, all seek influence. Some of these also seek access to gold, oil and other resources from Sudan:

Over the last two decades, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and to a lesser Qatar and Turkey, all have increased
their engagement in the Red Sea.

The Gulf states and, importantly, Israel are all backed the US, the UK and other European states to some extent. The UK, for example, is major supplier of arms to the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The Sudanese people are caught between these regional forces and their imperial backers. Unless a Sudanese-led solution can be found, the slaughter will likely continue unabated.

Featured image via Sudan Tribune