On May 4, the paramilitary forces of Sudan Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a suicide drone dam at the Sudan port, the capital of de facto of the army on the Red Sea.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) accused foreign actors of supporting RSF attacks and even threatened to break ties with one of its largest trading partners.
The RSF surprised a lot with the strikes. He had already used drones, but never reached targets as distant as Port Sudan, which was a paradise, until last week.
“The strikes … have led to a huge displacement of the city. Many people have left Sudan in Port,” said Aza Aera, a local rescue worker in Al Jazeera. “If the attack continues … I think I’m going to leave like everyone else.”
A drone war
When a civil war broke out between the SAF and the RSF in April 2023, the army had air supremacy due to its fleet of war and drone planes.
However, the RSF fills the gap with an arsenal of suicide drones, which he used on the Sudan port for six consecutive days, hitting an army base, a civil airport, several hotels and a fuel deposit, which caused a massive explosion.
“Sudan had already entered the drone war phase in recent months … at least a few months,” said Suliman Baldo, founder of the transparency of Sudan and the tracker’s thinking group.
The army is largely based on relatively affordable Bayraktar TB2 TB2 drones, which would have received $ 120 million since the end of 2023.
Bayraktars can travel long distances with a large payload, and the army said that it helped it take up the territory of the RSF in Eastern Sudan and Central between September 2024 and March 2025, including the capital Khartoum.
Despite the loss of significant land, the RSF then intensified its assault against the SAF with Chinese manufacturing drones, according to a recent Amnesty International report.
The human rights group, the de facto military government of Sudan and other monitors accuse all the United Arab Emirates (water) of buying these drones – and other weapons – and of providing them to the RSF.
The water denied charges as “baseless”.
“The United Arab Emirates strongly reject the suggestion that he provides weapons to any party involved in the current conflict in Sudan,” said Salem Aljaberi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Water Affairs, in a statement on X.
Be that as it may, the growing use of drones by both parties marks an escalation and risks exacerbating an already catastrophic situation for civilians, according to experts and human rights monitors.
Daring
On May 6, the authorities supported by the army at the Sudan port announced the separation of all links with the water after having accused it of being behind the attacks.
This announcement was not well thought out, according to Baldo.
The Sudan army could lose tens of millions of dollars in gold income, as well as access to vital banking operations, he told Al Jazeera.
A supported company of water, Emiral Resources, has the majority of the actions of the largest gold mine in Sudan, the Kush mine.
Kush is administered by the Army of Sudan, which probably sells tens of millions of dollars in gold.
According to the Central Bank of Sudan, around 97% of gold exports from the army controlled areas went to the water in 2023.
Kush exported at least a ton of gold in 2024, although it is not clear to what extent the number is high for production.
In addition, water banks have a majority share in the Khartoum bank, including the digital platform, Bankak, facilitates money transfers for millions of displaced Sudanese and public institutions.
The state of the water also has the El Nilein bank, which manages and approves international transactions on behalf of Port Sudan, according to a report that Baldo co-written in March for the Chatham House reflection group.
“It was a hasty decision [to cut ties with the UAE] This will have serious consequences … due to the control of the United Arab Emirates [Sudan’s] National economy, ”said Baldo in Al Jazeera.
Major climbing?
The army of Sudan did not specify how and when it broke the links with the water.
On May 6, the head of the SAF, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, swore in a video to “defeat the militia (RSF) and those who help them”.
Al Jazeera has sent written questions to the army spokesman Nabil Abdullah, asking if Port Sudan will implement the announced suspension.
No response was received at the time of publication.
For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates told Al Jazeera in an email that he would not retaliate against the Sudan port.
“The declaration published by the so-called” Security and Defense Council “will not affect the deep and lasting ties between the water and the Republic of Sudan, and their peoples,” said the statement sent by email.
Meanwhile, experts and observers think that war in Sudan is tending towards a major escalation.
The regional landlords of the army could respond to the increased use of drones by the RSF by doubling their support for the army, warned Alan Boswell, an expert in Sudan for the International Crisis Group.
“The obvious risk [from the attacks on Port Sudan] Does he bring others [regional powers] In more deeply involved on the army side, “he told Al Jazeera.
“We could see an increasing war with an increasingly large firepower, and nothing would remain from the infrastructure of Sudan at the end of it.”
