Port Sudan: The Sudanese army announced on Sunday that paramilitary forces launched an attack on Port Sudan, located on the Red Sea coast. This marks the first assault on the city’s status as the seat of the army-aligned government during the ongoing two-year conflict. Although smoke was observed rising from Port Sudan’s airport, no casualties have been reported.
According to France24.com, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted Osman Digna Air Base, a goods warehouse, and several civilian facilities in Port Sudan using suicide drones. The attack was confirmed by army spokesman Nabil Abdullah in an official statement.
In the initial days of the conflict, the government transitioned its operations from Khartoum to Port Sudan, which had remained untouched by the violence until this recent attack. The relocation of UN agencies and their staff to Port Sudan underscores the city’s importance as a refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced individuals escaping the war.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese regular
army, led by the country’s de facto leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been engaged in intense fighting against the RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. This brutal conflict has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of 13 million people, effectively splitting Africa’s third-largest nation.
Currently, the regular army maintains control over the country’s center, east, and north, while the RSF dominates much of the western region of Darfur and parts of the south. In February, the RSF and its allies signed a charter in Kenya, outlining their intentions to establish a rival government to the existing army-aligned administration.