RSF drone strike hits Port Sudan in third day of attacks on Sudanese wartime capital


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Several drone attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces hit Sudan's de facto capital on Tuesday, igniting fires and causing a power cut in the Red Sea city, which is now at the centre of the two-year civil war between the military and the RSF.

Tuesday's attacks hit Port Sudan's international airport, large fuel depots at the port, a power station and a military base, according to witnesses.

Also attacked was a luxury hotel 200 metres from the presidential palace, in a district home to diplomatic missions and UN offices, they said.

The attack on the fuel depots at the port ignited a fire and created a large cloud of black smoke.

The attacks were the third on Port Sudan in as many days. The RSF has not yet claimed responsibility for the drone strikes. The army has yet to publicly comment on the attacks on Monday and Tuesday.

"The situation is very dangerous and worrying. We expect a hike in food prices and transport costs," said Port Sudan resident Nasreldeen Ezzeldeen. "Traffic and daily life in general have not been affected by the attacks, but security has been stepped up, with police and army checkpoints in some areas."

Hours after Tuesday's attacks, long queues of cars formed at the city's petrol stations, witnesses said.

On Sunday, drones hit the military section of the city's international airport, causing several explosions when a munitions depot was attacked.

This satellite image shows a fire at a fuel tank farm after a drone attack outside Port Sudan on Tuesday. AP / Planet Labs PBC
This satellite image shows a fire at a fuel tank farm after a drone attack outside Port Sudan on Tuesday. AP / Planet Labs PBC

A day later, the drones hit the nation's main fuel depot, causing large fires. Monday's attack will probably affect the economy, causing fuel shortages and food price increases, adding to the already difficult task of delivering humanitarian aid to millions of hungry Sudanese.

There were no reports of casualties from the attacks.

Port Sudan has been the de facto capital of Sudan since shortly after the RSF overran Khartoum in the early days of the war.

It is home to the military-backed government, the armed forces' leadership and hundreds of thousands of Sudanese displaced by the war in the Afro-Arab nation.

Port Sudan, about 650km east of Khartoum, had until Sunday been spared the ravages of the war. There were no reports of unusually heavy traffic leaving the city after the drone attacks.

But the attacks are a major escalation in the civil war, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced more than 13 million people and left about 26 million – more than half the population – facing acute hunger.

Authorities on Tuesday evacuated the airport at Port Sudan and suspended flights indefinitely, witnesses said. It is the only airport in the country to receive commercial international flights, with Khartoum airport closed since the start of the war.

Sudan's war began when months of tension between two generals - army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo - turned into an open conflict. Both men claim to be fighting for the restoration of democratic rule and economic prosperity, but they are widely believed to be vying for power in the resource-rich nation.

Following a string of battlefield successes in recent months, the army regained control of central Sudan and the capital. It continues to control eastern and northern Sudan. The RSF controls most of the vast Darfur region and parts of Kordofan to the south-west and the south.

The attacks on Port Sudan have drawn condemnation from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the attacks on Port Sudan were a "worrying development threatening the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations".

Nearly all humanitarian aid into Sudan arrives through the city. This week's attacks also open a new front when many expected the fighting to shift to Darfur and Kordofan, after the RSF was pushed out of Khartoum.

The expansion of hostilities into the east threatens to prolong the conflict. The war also carries the potential to draw Sudan's neighbouring countries.

Of the 13 million Sudanese displaced by the fighting, about three million have found refuge abroad, mostly in Egypt, Chad, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, said the attacks on Port Sudan will "deepen humanitarian suffering and needs" because they will compound difficulties already faced by agencies delivering aid to the needy in Africa's third largest country.

"Damage to critical infrastructure could also disrupt supply chains and increase the price of basic goods, further exacerbating human suffering in what's already the world's largest humanitarian crisis," she said.

Al Shafie Ahmed reported from Kampala, Uganda

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Sustainable Development Goals

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation

10. Reduce inequality  within and among countries

11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

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Your rights as an employee

The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.

The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.

If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.

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The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Picture of Joumblatt and Hariri breaking bread sets Twitter alight

Mr Joumblatt’s pessimism regarding the Lebanese political situation didn’t stop him from enjoying a cheerful dinner on Tuesday with several politicians including Mr Hariri.

Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury tweeted a picture of the group sitting around a table at a discrete fish restaurant in Beirut’s upscale Sodeco area.

Mr Joumblatt told The National that the fish served at Kelly’s Fish lounge had been very good.

“They really enjoyed their time”, remembers the restaurant owner. “Mr Hariri was taking selfies with everybody”.

Mr Hariri and Mr Joumblatt often have dinner together to discuss recent political developments.

Mr Joumblatt was a close ally of Mr Hariri’s assassinated father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The pair were leading figures in the political grouping against the 15-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon that ended after mass protests in 2005 in the wake of Rafik Hariri’s murder. After the younger Hariri took over his father’s mantle in 2004, the relationship with Mr Joumblatt endured.

However, the pair have not always been so close. In the run-up to the election last year, Messrs Hariri and Joumblatt went months without speaking over an argument regarding the new proportional electoral law to be used for the first time. Mr Joumblatt worried that a proportional system, which Mr Hariri backed, would see the influence of his small sect diminished.

With so much of Lebanese politics agreed in late-night meetings behind closed doors, the media and pundits put significant weight on how regularly, where and with who senior politicians meet.

In the picture, alongside Messrs Khoury and Hariri were Mr Joumbatt and his wife Nora, PSP politician Wael Abou Faour and Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon Nazih el Nagari.

The picture of the dinner led to a flurry of excitement on Twitter that it signified an imminent government formation. “God willing, white smoke will rise soon and Walid Beik [a nickname for Walid Joumblatt] will accept to give up the minister of industry”, one user replied to the tweet. “Blessings to you…We would like you to form a cabinet”, wrote another.  

The next few days will be crucial in determining whether these wishes come true.

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Updated: May 06, 2025, 5:27 PM