Drone Strikes Hit Three More Sudan Substations in Kassala and the North, Widening Blackouts

Reported drone strikes hit three electricity substations in eastern and northern Sudan early on Monday — at New Halfa and Aroma in Kassala state and at al-Ghazali in Northern State — causing widespread power outages and extending a concentrated campaign against the country's power network, Al Jazeera reported. The attacks brought the number of reported strikes on Sudan's electricity network to 18 over the past week, and came a day after Khartoum filed UN and African Union complaints accusing Ethiopia of involvement — an allegation Ethiopia denies.

Awaaz Punjab Investigations Desk2 November 20263 min readRead in all 3 languages

KHARTOUM — Drone strikes were reported to have hit three electricity substations in eastern and northern Sudan early on Monday, causing widespread power outages across parts of the country, Al Jazeera reported, in the latest attacks of a concentrated campaign against Sudan's power system.

Source: Al Jazeera

Facilities in New Halfa and Aroma in eastern Kassala state were hit early on Monday, while the al-Ghazali substation in Sudan's Northern State — near Merowe, according to Radar Africa's reporting — was also targeted, according to local media cited by Al Jazeera. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show fires at the facilities, with civil defence teams trying to extinguish the flames; Al Jazeera said it was not able to immediately verify the footage and reports, and the full extent of the damage remains unclear.

Source: Radar Africa

3Substations reported hit on Monday — New Halfa, Aroma and al-Ghazali

18Reported strikes on Sudan's electricity network over the past week, Al Jazeera reported

April 2023When the war between Sudan's army and the RSF began

2Bodies Sudan complained to on Sunday — the UN Security Council and the African Union

Sudan's military government has claimed that Ethiopia is aiding the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — which it has been fighting since April 2023 — in carrying out the attacks. That is Khartoum's allegation: Ethiopia denies aiding the RSF, and neither side's claim about the other's role has been independently established. An earlier short report on Monday had counted 15 power stations hit across Sudan in a week after the two Kassala strikes, before the Northern State attack was added to the tally.

Source: Inshorts

The strikes came a day after Sudan's government filed its formal complaints against Ethiopia with the UN Security Council and the African Union's Peace and Security Council over the drone campaign against civilian sites and power stations — the step Awaaz Punjab reported on Sunday night. Read: Sudan files UN and AU complaints against Ethiopia

The Sudanese army also reported on Monday that a group of RSF members had defected by surrendering to its forces in Damazin, the capital of southeastern Blue Nile state, Al Jazeera reported — a claim from the army side of the war, reported here as the army stated it. The announcement followed video footage obtained by Al Jazeera in which senior RSF commander Siddiq Ander declared his own defection.

What happens next will be measured first in electricity, not diplomacy: authorities have given no comprehensive assessment of the repairs needed or of when power will be restored in the areas blacked out on Monday, and each new strike on the grid deepens the pressure on hospitals, water systems and other essential services that depend on it. The diplomatic track — Khartoum's complaints in New York and at the African Union — is now running in parallel with a campaign that, on Monday's evidence, has not paused for it.

Sources