Showing posts with label Port Sudan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Port Sudan. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

Drone attacks in Sudan's Port Sudan and Kassala. MSF hospital attack in South Sudan was deliberate says UN

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: A year or so ago, I saw credible reports saying Janjaweed RSF militia plan to take Khartoum, Darfur, Port Sudan. I documented them at Sudan Watch but don't have time to find them now. 

The following reports regarding a series of attacks over past three days on Sudan's Port Sudan/ International Airport and Kassala Airport, plus a market and MSF hospital in South Sudan's Jonglei, succeeded in creating a new round of explosive headlines and complex humanitarian needs and aid.

In my view, they are not a coincidence. A nagging feeling I am unable to shake off tells me the US is pulling strings behind the scenes. Hundreds of ruthless US civilians are financially invested, particularly in South Sudan.
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VIDEO REPORT from Channel 4 News
By Lindsey Hilsum International Editor
Dated Tuesday, 06 May 2025 - full copy:

PORT SUDAN ROCKED BY MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS
Sudan war latest: who was behind Port Sudan attacks?


Multiple explosions have rocked the Sudanese city of Port Sudan for a third day as paramilitary rebels target government forces.


The Red Sea city has become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the civil war.


The two-year conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has already created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.


The attacks on the port have led to power cuts and represent a new front in the fighting as it had not been targeted before this month.



YouTube link: https://youtu.be/cQHh0HqRmVA

Channel 4 is a British public broadcast service

Source: https://www.channel4.com/news/sudan-war-latest-who-was-behind-port-sudan-attacks

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Related


Report from BBC

Dated Tuesday, 06 May 2025 - excerpt:


Sudan paramilitary attacks leave key city without power

Drone strikes have hit a major power station in the Sudanese city of Port Sudan causing a "complete power outage", the country's electricity provider said. Flights have been cancelled after drones hit the international airport and a hotel near the current presidential palace, reports say.

Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx20x8g2nego

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Report from ReliefWeb

By UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Dated Tuesday, 06 May 2025 - full copy:


Port Sudan drone attacks: A call to protect civilian infrastructure - Statement by the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami


(Port Sudan, 6 May 2025) I am shocked and deeply concerned by intensifying drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan, the main humanitarian hub within Sudan. In the early morning hours of 6 May 2025, drone attacks reportedly the Port Sudan International Airport and other infrastructure – including a fuel storage facility and a power transformer – in Port Sudan.


Such attacks will deepen humanitarian suffering and needs, as well as exacerbate the already severe access and logistical challenges that humanitarian actors face in the delivery of urgently needed aid to the rest of the country.


The Port Sudan International Airport is a lifeline for humanitarian operations, serving as the primary entry point for aid personnel, medical supplies, and other life-saving relief into Sudan. Moreover, the availability of fuel in Port Sudan is critical to the dispatch of humanitarian supplies to areas across Sudan in dire need of assistance. Damage to critical infrastructure could also disrupt supply chains and increase the price of basic goods, further exacerbating human suffering in what is already the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.


These latest strikes follow a series of drone attacks over the past days on civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan and Kassala, cities that have largely represented safe locations for civilians who have been displaced multiple times throughout this devastating conflict. Recent attacks on the Kassala Airport in eastern Sudan has forced displaced individuals – who had sought refuge in a gathering site near the airport – to move once again.


Since January 2025, attacks on infrastructure such as power stations, water sub-stations, and oil refineries across the country have caused widespread electricity outages and disrupted access to essential rights and services, including safe drinking water for civilians, healthcare and food supplies.


These attacks are serious violations of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. They reflect a consistent failure to comply with the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.


Every measure must be taken to spare civilians and civilian objects.


Once again, I call on all those involved in this conflict to cease hostilities.


View original: https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/port-sudan-drone-attacks-call-protect-civilian-infrastructure-statement-united-nations-resident-and-humanitarian-coordinator-sudan-clementine-nkweta-salami

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Report from IOM-DTM

Dated Tuesday, 06 May 2025 - excerpt:


DTM Sudan Flash Alert: Port Sudan (Port Sudan town), Red Sea

Between 5 and 6 May 2025, DTM field teams reported that approximately 120 households were displaced from Transit and Al Shahinat neighbourhoods in Port Sudan town of Port Sudan locality, Red Sea due to increased insecurity following air drone attacks. Households were displaced primarily to locations within Port Sudan locality, Red Sea. 

View original: https://mailchi.mp/iom/dtm-sudan-flash-alert-port-sudan-port-sudan-town-red-sea-update-001

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UPDATE from Sudan Watch Editor


Report from Chris Lockyear

Secretary General at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International

Heartbreaking news from South Sudan:


By Natalie Roberts 3 days ago 

Executive Director - MSF UK:

The MSF hospital in Old Fangak is the only functional healthcare facility in the region. Today it was bombed. We are still trying to understand how many people were killed and injured. We do know that this will obstruct access to vital medical services for over 100,000 people. Horrific.


View original: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chrislockyear_south-sudan-msf-strongly-condemns-the-bombing-activity-7324478466836295680-CKHb

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Report from BBC News

By Will Ross, Africa regional editor

and Natasha Booty, BBC News - excerpt:


Seven killed in South Sudan hospital and market bombing, charity says
MSF shared a picture which showed part of the hospital on fire


At least seven people have been killed after a hospital and market were bombed in South Sudan, a medical charity has said, as fears grow of a return to civil war.


Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said helicopter gunships dropped a bomb on the pharmacy of the hospital it runs in Old Fangak, Jonglei state, burning it down, before firing on the town for 30 minutes. A drone then bombed a local market, MSF said.


The hospital is the only one in Fangak county, which has a population of more than 110,000 people, MSF said, and all its medical supplies were destroyed.


The charity called the attack, which left 20 people injured, a "clear violation of international humanitarian law".


MSF spokesman Mamman Mustapha told the BBC's Newshour programme the charity was still trying to establish the facts, but local witnesses had said the aircraft were "government forces helicopters".


"The hospital is clearly marked as 'hospital' with our logo," he said. "We have shared also our coordinates for all the warring parties in the area so the hospital should be known to both parties as a hospital."


Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2536m9r2eo

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A bombing attack on a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital and pharmacy in South Sudan over the weekend was deliberate and may ...

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Thursday, February 13, 2025

'No obstacles' to Russian Red Sea base - Sudan

Sudan-Russia deal: Final agreement reached over Red Sea naval base, says Sudan. Moscow has for years sought to establish a base near Port Sudan. The port agreement, which was to last for 25 years, had been for Russia to establish a naval logistics hub, with warships including nuclear-powered vessels, and up to 300 personnel. Read full story.


From BBC News online
By Basillioh Rukanga

BBC News

Dated Thursday, 13 February 2025, 08:22 GMT - excerpts:

'No obstacles' to Russian Red Sea base - Sudan

IMAGE SOURCE, EPA. 

Image caption, Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Youssef (L) met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow


Sudan has said a final deal has been agreed with Russia to establish a naval base on the war-torn country's Red Sea coast, saying there were "no obstacles" to it. 


An agreement was discussed under former President Omar al-Bashir, but the military government that overthrew him had later said the matter was under review.


Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Youssef said on Wednesday a deal had been signed and they were in "complete agreement" with Russia over the establishment of the port. He said what remained was only the ratification of the deal.


The US, China and France already have a naval presence in the seas off the Horn of Africa - a key strategic and trading route.


“Sudan and Russia have reached an understanding on the agreement regarding the Russian naval base," Youssif told a press briefing on Wednesday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.


"The matter is very simple… We have agreed on everything," he said.


No further details were provided and Lavrov did not comment on the matter.


The deal was discussed under Bashir's rule in 2019 and initially signed in November 2020, soon after the military takeover, but its fate had been unclear since war broke out in 2023.


Moscow has for years sought to establish a base near Port Sudan.


The port agreement, which was to last for 25 years, had been for Russia to establish a naval logistics hub, with warships including nuclear-powered vessels, and up to 300 personnel.


The Red Sea provides a strategic route that is vital to global commerce as well as a defence and geopolitical hotspot.


Russian interests in Port Sudan are said to have grown amid fears of losing its military assets in Syria. The new government in Syria last month terminated a treaty granting Russia a long-term lease for a port where Russia has had its only foreign naval base.


In recent months, Russian officials have reportedly visited Port Sudan - the de facto capital of Sudan during the war - and has sought to cultivate ties with both warring sides in the civil war.


Russia has also been expanding its influence in other African countries, including signing military co-operation agreements and displacing traditional Western allies.

You may also be interested in:

Why Wagner is winning hearts in the Central African Republic
Putin offers African countries Russia’s ‘total support’
Wagner - built by blood and treasure in Africa
Russia in Africa: How disinformation operations target the continent


Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30del8dz51o


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Friday, July 12, 2024

Sudan's police order all foreigners to leave Khartoum & surrounding region. MSF evacuates Khartoum team

Report from Ghana News Agency
Dated Friday, 12 July 2024. Here is a copy, in full:

Sudanese police order all foreigners to leave Khartoum

Khartoum, Jul. 12, (dpa/GNA) – Sudanese security authorities have ordered all foreigners to leave the capital Khartoum and the surrounding region.


They have two weeks to do so, according to a statement from the section of the police dealing with foreigners.


Foreigners should leave for their own safety amid the fighting still raging between government troops and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, the police said.


According to media reports, hostility towards foreigners, especially those from other African countries, has been on the rise following reports of foreign mercenaries in the RSF ranks.


Just a few days ago, more than 150 foreigners who did not have valid residence papers were detained.


A bloody power struggle has been raging in Sudan for more than a year between de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.


According to the UN, the conflict has caused almost 10 million people to flee their homes, and risks a famine in the country.


International aid organization staff and diplomats still in the country left Khartoum after the outbreak of fighting and are now working from Port Sudan, where the situation is comparatively stable.


Source: https://gna.org.gh/2024/07/sudanese-police-order-all-foreigners-to-leave-khartoum/

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Related reports


Dabanga Online English - Friday, 12 July 2024

MSF Sudan evacuates ‘exhausted’ Khartoum team

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF/Doctors Without Borders) announced the evacuation of its team from the Turkish hospital in Khartoum, due to ongoing violence both inside and outside the facility. The decision follows numerous threats to the lives of MSF staff. … The Turkish hospital will remain open with Ministry of Health staff, but surgeries will not be possible without the evacuated MSF staff, casting uncertainty on the hospital’s future.

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/msf-sudan-evacuates-exhausted-khartoum-team

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https://x.com/RadioTamazuj/status/1811317249073934483 

Full story: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/sudan-violence-forces-msf-evacuate-team-turkish-hospital-khartoum

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https://x.com/RadioTamazuj/status/1811739285395308593 

Full story: https://www.radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/khartoum-community-kitchen-shut-after-support-runs-out

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Sudan Tribune - Thursday, 11 July 2024

Khartoum State orders foreign nationals to leave

The army controls the Karari locality and some neighbourhoods of old Omdurman, while Khartoum and Khartoum Bahri are under the control of the RSF, except for the headquarters and bases of the armed forces.



https://sudantribune.com/article288124/

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