Johannesburg — Drone attacks apparently launched by war-torn Sudan‘s RSF paramilitary forces appeared to derail the reopening on Wednesday of the main airport in the capital Khartoum after more than a year and a half.
The French news agency AFP said residents heard a wave of explosions in the early morning, and local media and Khartoum residents reported drones striking multiple areas of Khartoum on Wednesday, including near the airport.
Sudan’s Civil Aviation authority announced earlier this week that Khartoum International Airport would reopen Wednesday for domestic flights after 30 months shuttered due to the ongoing civil war between the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) and the military.
The Reuters news agency, along with local media, cited airline sources as saying the opening had been delayed by at least several days by the drone attacks.
A view of the damage caused by clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) at Khartoum International Airport in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, is seen in a March 28, 2025 file photo. / Credit: Mohammed Nzar Awad/Anadolu/Getty
CBS News was unable to reach Sudanese government officials for comment on Wednesday.The announcement of a pending reopening was made following several test flights, just months after the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) recaptured the heavily damaged airport.
AFP cited military sources as saying a third drone attack on Khartoum in just a week had been thwarted early on Wednesday, and it was unclear whether the explosions heard by residents were drones being shot down, or whether there was any damage.
RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, had warned ahead of the planned airport reopening that his forces would shoot down any plane suspected of supporting the Sudanese army.
The opening of the airport was intended to show full government control of the capital city. The government, led by the president of the Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is pushing for international flights to return to the capital as well.
Turkish Air, Egyptair and Ethiopian Airlines have all returned to fly regular flights from Port Sudan, further east, which has remained under the control of government forces. The Sudanese government and army have been pushing for those airlines to resume international flights from Khartoum, too, but the resumption of domestic flights on Wednesday was to be a key step in that direction.
Sudan’s government relocated to Port Sudan when the civil war erupted in April 2023, and Burhan has been pushing to show a normalization of life in the capital city since then, encouraging Sudanese civilians to return to Khartoum and undertaking a six-month intensive reconstruction campaign across the city.
Burhan is expected to move back to the presidential palace, which had been severely damaged in the fighting, in the relatively near future. He has called on the government’s various ministries to move back to their headquarters in Khartoum by early next year.
European diplomats are expected to visit Khartoum by the end of this month, with SAF officials pushing for Western countries to reopen their embassies.
Port Sudan has been Sudan’s only functioning international airport since the war began, despite several recent drone attacks in the vicinity of that facility, too.
Residents say Khartoum has been largely calm since the SAF pushed RSF forces out of the capital in March. The RSF has concentrated its military efforts since the spring on the beleaguered Darfur region, where it has been trying for weeks to fully capture the city of el-Fasher, the last Darfur city not under its control.
El-Fasher has been completely surrounded, cut off to the outside world and under siege, for weeks. Residents say the markets are empty after the RSF built earthen berms to surround the city, cutting off vital supplies.
The U.N. has warned that fighting in el-Fasher has intensified, including repeated drone strikes.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said last week that el-Fasher was “under siege from all directions.”
Tens of thousands of Sudanese have been killed in the war, with millions forced to flee from their homes.
The conflict began as a power struggle between Hemedti and Burhan, but descended quickly info full-scale war between their forces, fueling what the U.N. says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
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