A drone strike in south-eastern Sudan has killed at least 30 displaced people, all of them women and children, according to the local governor. He blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and said the drone was launched from inside Ethiopia.
At least 30 displaced people have been killed and dozens wounded in a drone attack in south-eastern Sudan, Al Jazeera reported.
What Happened
The governor of Wad al-Mahi province, Mahjoub Al-Sheikh, told Al Jazeera on Friday, October 9, that the dead were 26 women and four children.
He said the drone belonged to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and described the attack as “cowardly”. According to AFP, he said it was launched from “inside Ethiopia”.
The strike hit just outside a displacement camp, near an informal gold mining site. Women there earn a daily wage by clearing gold from earth dug out by men, using chemicals and their bare hands.
The report did not include a response from the RSF.
A New Front
Wad al-Mahi lies near the city of Damazin in the Blue Nile region. Al Jazeera’s correspondent said the attack was the latest in a wave of drone strikes there.
The border area with Ethiopia has become the newest front line in the war between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which has launched an offensive towards Damazin.
That could stretch the army, forcing it to defend the Blue Nile front as well as the Kordofan region, where a year of drone strikes has left the two sides deadlocked.
The Ethiopia Question
Sudan has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of harbouring RSF fighters and bases. Ethiopia denies it.
Local sources told AFP that the porous border is a key supply line for the paramilitary force and its allies. Ethiopia is meanwhile dealing with an internal conflict of its own.
The Wider War
- The war began in April 2023
- Aid workers estimate it has killed more than 200,000 people
- Nearly 100,000 people have been displaced in Blue Nile state this year alone, according to UN figures
The conflict has produced one of the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
Image: The outskirts of Damazin in Sudan’s Blue Nile region (file photo). Photo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.