Sudan army says RSF targets major dam with drone strikes

Sudan's army said paramilitary forces launched drone strikes on Thursday targeting a northern town housing a major dam, while fighting between the parties raged in the strategic region of Kordofan.

The strikes come after the Group of Seven (G7) sounded the alarm on Wednesday over the "recent escalation of violence" in Sudan's war, which erupted more than two and a half years ago.

The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million more, and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The violence has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with the RSF seizing control of the key town of Al Fasher and with reports of atrocities multiplying.

Army headquarters targeted

On Thursday, drones "targeted the army headquarters, the airport and the Merowe Dam", an army statement said, adding that it had intercepted the attacks that it blamed on the RSF.

Merowe is in an area that has been under army control for months.

The town, about 330 kilometres north of the capital Khartoum, was plunged into darkness after a full power cut, witnesses told AFP.

In late October, the RSF captured Al Fasher, the last army stronghold in the vast western Darfur region, consolidating its hold over the area.

Civilians flee Al Fasher

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 90,000 civilians have fled Al Fasher since it fell under paramilitary control.

Since the fall of Al Fasher, where the army said thousands of people were killed in a single day, fighting has shifted to the neighbouring Kordofan region.

The area is strategic because it connects the west of the country with the capital.

People who had fled Al Fasher described "sexual abuse, sexual assaults, especially of girls and young women. And they described that young men were often being shot on sight", IOM chief Amy Pope told AFP.

RSF's weaponry support

Pope added that many are reporting much of the same kinds of violence in Kordofan, which has forced around 50,000 people to flee their homes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday called for international action to cut off weapons to the RSF, saying any backers would face repercussions.

"I think something needs to be done to cut off the weapons and support that the RSF is getting as they continue with their advances," he said.

The United Arab Emirates, a key US ally, has faced mounting accusations of backing the RSF – allegations Abu Dhabi denies.

Reflecting 'poorly on the world'

Rubio declined to single out the UAE, but said: "It's coming through some country and we know who they are and we're going to talk to them about it and make them understand that it's going to reflect poorly on them and it's going to reflect poorly on the world if we can't stop this."

Mohieddin Salem, the Sudanese army-aligned government's foreign minister, welcomed Rubio's statement.

It "is time to hold Dagalo's militia accountable", Salem said in a statement to official news agency SUNA, referring to RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

He called on the international community to "avoid a repeat of the Al Fasher tragedy" in the besieged towns of Kordofan.

Under siege

Clashes and fires have been recorded in recent days in the town of Babanusa, the last army stronghold in West Kordofan state, according to satellite imagery analysed by AFP and the Vista map tracking service.

The town has been under siege for several months, as have North Kordofan state capital El-Obeid and South Kordofan's Kadugli and Dilling.