Power outages in Khartoum and northern Sudan after attack on hydroelectric dam

National army accuses RSF of targeting power station north of capital

Soldiers arrive at a market in an area recently recaptured by Sudan's army from the RSF in the Al Kalalah district. AP

Parts of Khartoum and a region north of the Sudanese capital were without electricity on Saturday following a drone attack against a hydroelectric dam, according to a statement from the national power company.

The attack on the power station of the Maroue Nile dam took place at dawn, according to the company. It said the attack damaged the station's chief power transformer, causing the power cuts. There was no word on casualties.

The national army accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of being behind the attack.

The attack followed threats made on April 3 by the RSF's second in command, Abdel Raheem Dagalo, that the paramilitary force planned to take its war against the national army to the north of the country, which has so far escaped the fighting ravaging Africa's third largest country since it began on April 15, 2023.

Mr Dagalo, brother of RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo, said last week that 2,000 fighting vehicles were on their way to Shamaliyah state, where the dam is located. However, his claim was never independently verified.

The commander of an army infantry division stationed in Shamaliyah sought to reassure residents in a statement issued on Saturday, saying his men and members of allied groups were ready to defend the state.

"Don't be swayed by the malicious rumours spun by the militia's media which aim at undermining the security and stability of the state and its people,” said Gen Tareq Ahmed.

Gen Mohamed Dagalo, commander of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Reuters

A ground offensive on Shamaliyah would be a milestone development in Sudan's war between the army and the RSF, dragging the home of the nation's traditional political and economic elite into the conflict for the first time.

Such an attack would also fit the RSF's claim that it is fighting to win equality and a fair share of resources for the "people of the margins”, the phrase commonly used to refer to residents of Sudan's outlying and impoverished regions such as Darfur and Kordofan.

Darfur is the birthplace of the RSF's forerunner, the Janjaweed militia blamed for abuses against civilians there, particularly ethnic African communities.

The Sudan war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 12 million and left some 25 million facing acute hunger, with the threat of famine stalking areas across the Afro-Arab nation.

The RSF controls most of Darfur, which is the size of France, and parts of Kordofan to the south-west where it has entered an alliance with a powerful rebel group. Led by de facto leader and army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, the army currently controls the Sudanese capital along with the nation's eastern, northern and central regions.