A drone attack early on Tuesday morning targeted the area around Khartoum International Airport, just one day before its planned reopening, more than two years after it was closed due to the devastating civil war ravaging the country.
According to several witnesses, drones flew over central and southern neighborhoods of the Sudanese capital before several explosions were heard in the airport area between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. local time (02:00-04:00 GMT).
The airport has been closed since April 2023, when armed conflict broke out between the regular army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. It was scheduled to gradually resume operations on Wednesday. On Monday, the Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the reopening, specifying that domestic flights would restart initially, following the completion of « technical and operational preparations. »
Since the army regained control of Khartoum in the spring, the city has seen relative calm. However, it remains regularly targeted by drone attacks, often attributed to the RSF, which aim at both civilian and military infrastructure. Last week, two military bases in the northwest of the capital were attacked on two consecutive days. A military official, however, assured that most of the drones were intercepted.
The retaking of Khartoum has allowed for the return of more than 800,000 people, according to authorities. The government, supported by the army, has launched a large-scale reconstruction campaign and organized the gradual return of displaced civil servants from Port Sudan, in the east. Despite these efforts, large portions of the city remain in ruins, and power outages remain frequent, often caused by drone strikes.
While the capital attempts to recover, the intensity of the fighting remains concentrated in the west of the country. For the past 18 months, the RSF has been besieging the city of El-Fasher, the last major urban center in the Darfur region still controlled by the army. Its fall would allow the paramilitaries to control the entire Darfur region as well as much of the southern part of the country, while the army maintains control over the center, north, and east.
Since the conflict began, the war in Sudan has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced nearly 12 million people. The UN has described the humanitarian situation in the country as the « worst crisis in the world » at present.