Drone strike kills 30 people in Sudan’s Blue Nile region

Drone reportedly linked to RSF targets Wad al-Mahi, killing dozens near displacement camp, including women and children.

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soldiers in East Nile province, Sudan [File Hussein Malla/AP]

At least 30 displaced people, including women and children, have been killed and dozens of others have been wounded following a drone attack in southeastern Sudan.

The governor of Wad al-Mahi province told Al Jazeera on Friday that a drone belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted the centre of the province, killing 26 women and four children.

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Governor Mahjoub Al-Sheikh described the attack as “cowardly”. He said the drone was launched from “inside Ethiopia”, according to the AFP news agency.

Al Jazeera Arabic’s Sudan correspondent, Wadah Al-Tahir, explained that the attack was the latest in a wave of drone strikes targeting the Blue Nile region and this time Wad al-Mahi province near the city of Damazin was struck.

Friday’s attack was just outside a displacement camp, near an informal gold mining site, where women earn a daily wage using chemicals and their bare hands to clear gold nuggets from the earth extracted by men.

The latest frontline in the war between the Sudanese army and the RSF is the border region with Ethiopia, which is facing its own internal conflict that threatens to escalate.

Sudan has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of harbouring RSF fighters and bases – Ethiopia has denied the allegations.

Local sources say the porous border between the two countries is a key supply line for the paramilitary and its allies, AFP reported.

The RSF launched its offensive towards Damazin but the advance could put the army in a bind, forcing it to defend territory on both the Blue Nile front and in the Kordofan region, where a year of deadly drone strikes has left the two sides deadlocked.

Aid workers estimate that Sudan’s civil war has killed more than 200,000 people since it started in April 2023, creating one of the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.

Nearly 100,000 people have been displaced in Blue Nile state this year alone, according to United Nations figures.

据报道，与快速支援部队有关的无人机袭击了瓦德·马希，在流离失所者营地附近造成数十人死亡，其中包括妇女和儿童。

苏丹东尼罗省快速支援部队（RSF）士兵 [Hussein Malla/AP 摄]

苏丹东南部发生无人机袭击事件，造成至少 30 名流离失所者（包括妇女和儿童）死亡，另有数十人受伤。

瓦德马希省省长周五告诉半岛电视台，一架属于准军事快速支援部队（RSF）的无人机袭击了该省中心地带，造成 26 名妇女和 4 名儿童死亡。

埃塞俄比亚总理阿比要求获得红海通行权，与邻国的紧张局势加剧（共3条，此为第1条）

联合国人权理事会谴责苏丹境内针对平民的袭击，呼吁停火（共3份名单，此为第2份）。

南苏丹援助危机加剧，粮食库存告急（共3条，此为第3条）

埃塞俄比亚州长马赫朱卜·谢赫称此次袭击是“懦夫行径”。据法新社报道，他表示无人机是从“埃塞俄比亚境内”发射的。

半岛电视台阿拉伯语频道苏丹记者瓦达·塔希尔解释说，这次袭击是针对青尼罗河地区的一波无人机袭击中的最新一起，这次袭击的目标是达马津市附近的瓦德马希省。

周五的袭击事件就发生在一个流离失所者营地外，靠近一个非正式的金矿开采点。在那里，妇女们每天用化学品和双手从地里清理出由男人开采出来的金块，以此赚取工资。

苏丹军队与快速支援部队之间的最新战线是与埃塞俄比亚接壤的边境地区，而埃塞俄比亚自身也面临着内部冲突，这种冲突有可能升级。

苏丹多次指责埃塞俄比亚窝藏快速支援部队的武装人员和基地——埃塞俄比亚否认了这些指控。

据法新社报道，当地消息人士称，两国之间管控不严的边界是准军事组织及其盟友的重要补给线。

快速支援部队向达马津发动进攻，但这一推进可能会使军队陷入困境，迫使其在青尼罗河前线和科尔多凡地区同时进行防御。在科尔多凡地区，长达一年的致命无人机袭击使双方陷入僵局。

援助人员估计，自 2023 年 4 月苏丹内战爆发以来，已有超过 20 万人丧生，造成了世界上最严重的饥饿和流离失所危机之一。

根据联合国的数据，仅今年一年，青尼罗河州就有近 10 万人流离失所。