Rebel drone attack leaves key Sudanese city without power

A drone strike launched by the Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) caused a blackout in El-Obeid during the early hours of 3 March, Asharq Al-Awsat and agencies reported.

The strike targeted a main power station serving the city. Local authorities indicated the attack led to a widespread power cut across El-Obeid and its surrounding areas.

Residents in the city reported hearing an explosion at around 2:00 am local time, followed by flames coming from the station’s general direction. An official from Sudan’s state electricity company, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed that the drone attack had caused a fire in the facility.

El-Obeid is the largest city in Sudan’s Kordofan region and has become a central battleground in the fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces since civil war erupted in April 2023.

The city is of strategic importance due to its location in western Sudan, connecting RSF-controlled Darfur with the east of the country and the capital Khartoum. Until February 2025, El-Obeid was besieged by the RSF. The paramilitary group has continued its efforts to retake the city from the Sudanese army.

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has effectively split the country in two, with the government maintaining power in the north, while the RSF has taken control of the west, as well as parts of the south.

Since the conflict began, it has displaced 11 million people and contributed to what has been described as the world’s largest hunger crisis.

In Kordofan’s other major cities, hundreds of thousands of people faced mass starvation during prolonged sieges in Dilling and Kadugli, until the Sudanese army was able to take back control.

 The drone strike in El-Obeid adds to the toll of a conflict that has already killed tens of thousands of people across Sudan.

Asharq Al-Awsat, Maghrebi.org