Showing posts with label RSF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RSF. 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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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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Thursday, April 03, 2025

Sudan: UN Human Rights Chief appalled by widespread extrajudicial killings in Khartoum

“Extrajudicial killings are serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Individual perpetrators, as well as those with command responsibility, must be held accountable for such unacceptable actions under international criminal law.” -UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk 

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Read more in Press Release

From Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 

Dated Thursday, 03 April 2025 - full copy:


Sudan: UN Human Rights Chief appalled by widespread extrajudicial killings in Khartoum


@ MOHAMMED NZAR AWAD / ANADOLU / ANADOLU VIA AFP

GENEVA – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Thursday said he was appalled by reports of widespread extrajudicial killings of civilians in Khartoum following its recapture by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on 26 March.


“I am utterly appalled by the credible reports of numerous incidents of summary executions of civilians in several areas of Khartoum, on apparent suspicions that they were collaborating with the Rapid Support Forces. I urge the commanders of the Sudanese Armed Forces to take immediate measures to put an end to arbitrary deprivation of life,” said Türk.


“Extrajudicial killings are serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Individual perpetrators, as well as those with command responsibility, must be held accountable for such unacceptable actions under international criminal law.”


The UN Human Rights Office has reviewed multiple horrific videos posted on social media since 26 March, all of them apparently filmed in southern and eastern Khartoum. They show armed men – some in uniform and others in civilian clothes – executing civilians in cold blood, often in public settings. In some videos, perpetrators state that they are punishing supporters of RSF.


Reports have attributed the killings to SAF and State security personnel, as well as to SAF-affiliated militias and fighters. In the Janoub Al Hezam area of southern Khartoum, for instance, at least 20 civilians, including one woman, were allegedly killed by SAF and affiliated militias and fighters.


Our Office has also documented a disturbing rise in online hate speech and incitement to violence, with lists of individuals accused of collaborating with the RSF posted online. Ethnic groups from the Darfur and Kordofan regions appear to be disproportionately targeted.


Türk called, once again, on all parties to take immediate steps to ensure their forces respect the right to life, without distinction, consistent with their obligations under international human rights law and humanitarian law.


The High Commissioner also called on Sudan promptly to launch independent, transparent and effective investigations into these incidents in line with relevant international standards, with a view to holding those responsible to account, and ensuring victims’ rights to truth and justice.


Related


PRESS RELEASES

Comment by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Sudanese Armed Forces airstrikes in Tora, North Darfur


PRESS RELEASES

Sudan: Escalating violence against civilians as fighting intensifies


PRESS RELEASES

Sudan: UN report details rampant abuse of detainees amid ongoing conflict


For more information and media requests, please contact:

Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org 
Seif Magango - +41 79 752 0488 / seif.magango@un.org


Tag and share

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View original: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/sudan-un-human-rights-chief-appalled-widespread-extrajudicial-killings

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Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Sudan's army retakes Khartoum airport from rebels

SUDAN'S army recaptures Khartoum airport and surrounding areas, military sources said on Wednesday, marking another gain in its two-year-old war with a rival armed group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Sudan's army said in a statement it had also taken control of the Tiba al-Hassanab camp in Jabal Awliya, describing this as the RSF's main base in central Sudan and its last stronghold in Khartoum. Read more here below.

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Report from BBC News
By Barbara Plett Usher
BBC News, Port Sudan
Dated Wednesday, 26 March 2025 - full copy:

Sudanese army recaptures Khartoum airport from civil war rivals

Image source, AFP. Image caption, Civilians have been celebrating the army's recent territorial gains, from the presidential palace to the airport in the capital Khartoum


The Sudanese army has told the BBC it has recaptured the airport in the capital, Khartoum, from the paramilitary RSF, marking its latest territorial gain in the brutal two-year civil war.


Gen Mahomed Abdel Rahman al-Bilawi said troops had fully secured it and might be able to clear the rest of the RSF fighters by the end of day.


The army has been moving swiftly since recapturing the presidential palace on Friday, and civilians have been celebrating in the streets as it advances.


The RSF had controlled most of the capital since the war began in April 2023. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands have been killed, and millions have been forced to flee their homes.


An army spokesperson told the BBC that troops have seized Manshiya Bridge, the last RSF-held bridge, along with a military camp in the group's southern stronghold.


But the war is far from over.


The RSF still holds almost all the Darfur region in western Sudan, where earlier this week, eyewitnesses said dozens of civilians were killed when the air force bombed a market.


View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2g0ppj9lyo

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Related


Report from AP

By Associated Press

Dated Wed, 26 Mar 2025 Updated 1:49 PM GMT

Sudan’s military captures key RSF base as it consolidates control over Khartoum area

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s army said Wednesday it had recaptured a camp which was being used by the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group as a key base during its hold on the capital, Khartoum.


The development brings the military a step closer to declaring the capital fully liberated as it continues its advance toward key locations, including the airport. Troops last week retook the Republican Palace, which had been a stronghold of the RSF during the war that began in April 2023.


The Teiba al-Hasnab camp was the RSF’s last stronghold in Khartoum, army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah Ali said in a post on Facebook.


Full story: https://apnews.com/article/sudan-khartoum-army-rapid-support-forces-76b105423863fdc2e9243ceb54435033

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Report from RFI (Radio France Internationale)

Dated Wed, 26 Mar 2025 - 14:05

Sudanese army retakes Khartoum airport from rebels

The Sudanese army recaptured Khartoum airport and surrounding areas, military sources said on Wednesday, marking another gain in its two-year-old war with a rival armed group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).


Sudan's army said in a statement it had also taken control of the Tiba al-Hassanab camp in Jabal Awliya, describing this as the RSF's main base in central Sudan and its last stronghold in Khartoum.


The army secured both sides of Manshiya bridge, which crosses the Blue Nile in Khartoum, leaving the Jabel Awliya bridge just south of the capital as the only crossing out of the area still under RSF control.


Full story: https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250326-sudanese-army-retakes-khartoum-airport-from-rebels

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