War in Sudan: drone strikes cut power supply in oil-rich south
Over the past week, some 15,000 people have been displaced from the region, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration
The power supply was cut on Sunday following drone strikes in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, the national electricity company said, as fighting raged in the oil-rich southern region.
For more than two years, Sudan has been gripped by a war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with Kordofan the latest battleground after the RSF launched an offensive to seize the strategic region.
“El-Obeid power station ... was attacked by drones, leading to a fire in the machinery building, which led to a halt in the electricity supply,” the electricity company said.
Army-aligned forces had announced on Wednesday that they had retaken several cities south of El Obeid from the RSF.
The Joint Forces – an umbrella organisation of armed groups fighting alongside the army – said they had “achieved sweeping field victories in the North Kordofan axis.”
In a statement, the group affirmed “progress and control over several strategic areas, key among which are Kazqil, Hamadi, El-Rabash, Habila and El-Dubaibat”.