Description: Several drone barrages were reported from local civilian population which have hit Sudan’s main international airport in Khartoum. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) also reported that dozens of other suicide drones were intercepted by the SAF’s aerial defenses which targeted local neighborhoods in the capital. No reports detailing civilian casualties or material damage were available and no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks with the RSF being widely suspected of having conducted them. The airport in Khartoum was set to reopen this week after being closed for more than 2 years since the civil war broke out in the country. The attacks arrive only days after SAF’s leader, Abdel Fatah al – Burhan, announced the army’s preparedness to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the civil war, however, he also mentioned that RSF and any other rogue militias would not have a place in Sudan’s future. Separate reports indicated that UAE’s flight ban imposed on Sudan earlier this year has caused large – scale dwindling of the country’s currency and increased smuggling efforts by both the SAF and the RSF in recent months, further increasing the illegal scope of financing in both warring camps.
Impact: Taking into account the strategic importance of the international airport in Khartoum, the attacks which have most probably been perpetrated by the RSF, are aimed at crippling the SAF’s trade and logistics capacities as well as damaging the army’s credibility by attacking the political angle of their headquarters relocation to the capital city. The statements from Burhan earlier this week presented the first instance where either side has shown any initiative towards resolving the disastrous civil war through diplomatic means. His statements are unlikely to resound with the RSF which have bolstered their wartime aerial capacities and are using the tactical advantages of drone warfare. The situation with Sudan’s dwindling currency only further aggravates the gray and black economy in the country and provides both warring parties with ample sources of alternative funding since both the RSF and the SAF control larger territories where the country’s gold, as the most important commodity, is being sold on the international market through legal and illegal trade routes. Diplomatic efforts have stalled and there is no substantial initiative on either side to cease the war which is causing inexplicable levels of humanitarian devastation.