Suspected RSF Drone Strikes Trigger Widespread Power Blackouts in Southeastern Sudan

Recent drone strikes attributed to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have targeted crucial power infrastructure in southeastern Sudan, resulting in widespread electricity blackouts across the region. The attacks mark a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict, directly impacting civilian populations by severing access to basic utilities as humanitarian conditions in the country continue to deteriorate.

The strikes are part of a broader civil war that erupted in April 2023, pitting the RSF against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of the state. The two factions had previously seized power together in the 2021 military coup before a falling-out over the planned integration of the paramilitary group into the regular armed forces derailed a transition to civilian rule. As the conflict has dragged on, the RSF has consolidated territorial control in parts of the country and, in 2025, established a parallel administration known as the Government of Peace and Unity in alliance with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM–N).

The RSF’s origins trace back to the notorious Janjaweed militias deployed by the Sudanese government during the Darfur conflict in the early 2000s. In 2013, the state formally restructured these auxiliary units into an independent paramilitary organization under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti. Throughout the current civil war, international monitors and human rights organizations have documented extensive war crimes committed by RSF fighters, including targeted violence against non-Arab communities in Darfur and retaliatory attacks against northern Sudanese ethnic groups in Khartoum and Gezira states over their perceived loyalties to the SAF.

The conflict has increasingly drawn in external actors, complicating international diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire. The RSF has relied on supply lines and recruitment networks extending into neighboring Chad, while various international investigations and reports have accused the United Arab Emirates of covertly providing financial and logistical backing to the paramilitary force—allegations that Abu Dhabi has consistently denied. Meanwhile, diplomatic initiatives led by regional bodies and Western nations have repeatedly stalled as both warring parties prioritize military victory over negotiated settlements.

The intensification of infrastructure attacks in Sudan carries broader implications for regional stability, humanitarian security, and maritime commerce near critical global trade corridors along the Red Sea. Prolonged state collapse in Northeast Africa risks destabilizing the wider Horn of Africa and the Sahel, amplifying refugee flows and creating fertile ground for transnational extremist networks. For the international community, including major economies in Asia reliant on secure maritime routes and stable Middle Eastern and African trade partnerships, the unmitigated fracturing of Sudan underscores the vulnerability of vital supply chains and geopolitical stability in the wider Indo-Pacific and surrounding regions.