Sudan’s shadow war: Drone strikes reveal escalating tensions between UAE and Turkey..

Recent drone strikes in Sudan have revealed an escalating rivalry between the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, which are backing opposing sides in a war that has been raging since April 2023, after Air strikes in Nyala and then Port Sudan show Ankara and Abu Dhabi on opposing sides of Sudan’s war..

Officials in Sudan’s army-backed government have been watching the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) flying military cargo planes in and out of Nyala airport in South Darfur for months, The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) targeted the airport on multiple occasions, suspecting that the UAE, through its network of air bases in the region, including one in Uganda and one in Somalia’s Puntland Administration, was using it to supply the RSF with sophisticated weapons, armed drones and ammunition.

Source said that Chinese-made drones “consistent with FH-95s” bought by the UAE had been flown into Nyala, Last week, Amnesty International found that the UAE was sending Chinese-made weaponry, including GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers, into Darfur despite an ongoing UN arms embargo.

On 3 May, these drones, operated by Turks fighting alongside the Sudanese army in Port Sudan, struck a military cargo plane at Nyala airport. The plane was suspected of carrying “suicide” drones, ammunition and military radar systems, Local Sudanese sources familiar with the incident told that the Nyala strike killed or wounded many RSF personnel, as well as foreign citizens such as Emiratis, who were brought to the city’s Turkish hospital.

A local report said the attack killed at least 70 RSF fighters who were on their way to receive treatment outside Sudan, as well as 18 foreigners, including European, African and Arab troops. A Kenyan and a South Sudanese pilot were also reportedly dead, according to respective local media reports, Mercenaries who fight for the RSF are now, regional security sources told, flown in and out of Africa through Bosaso, airport in Somalia’s Puntland.

Sudanese and European diplomatic sources said the response was planned and executed by the UAE, not the leadership of the RSF, though Abu Dhabi condemned the raids in the strongest possible terms, Two sources familiar with the attacks told MEE that they wounded several members of the Turkish technical support team that had been on the ground aiding Sudanese army drone operations.

On Sunday, not long after the first strikes hit Port Sudan, Turkey dispatched an air ambulance to collect the patients, Babikir Elamin, Sudan’s ambassador to the UK, said the RSF “and its external sponsor, the UAE, were stubbornly pursuing their illegitimate and selfish agenda, to the extent of employing extreme brutality and terrorism”. 

Elamin pointed to the UAE’s supply of “French armoured vehicles, heavy artillery and drones sourced from Serbia, Bulgaria and China”, while also confirming that the Sudanese army was being assisted by outside actors, including Turkey. 

There are two main theories as to where the drones were launched from.

Three Sudanese sources told that the “suicide” drones were operated by the UAE and probably launched from Bosaso. Witnesses in Port Sudan said they had seen the drones coming in from the Red Sea, Chinese-made Sunflower-200 “suicide” – or “kamikaze” – drones have a 2,000km range, meaning that Bosaso, at about 1,800km, would be at the outer end of their range.

But a separate Sudanese source and a western military analyst said they believed the drones had come from the RSF-controlled al-Malha region of North Darfur, close to the border with Libya.