Satellite data analyzed by The Associated Press on Saturday showed fighting around Sudan’s largest oil refinery left the vast refinery ablaze and sent thick black smoke billowing into the sky above the capital.
Forces loyal to the Sudanese army, led by army commander General Abdul Fattah Burhan, later claimed to have captured an oil refinery owned by the Sudanese government and the state-run China National Petroleum Corporation. The facility will be a long-sought prize for the military during the civil war. Along with the rebel rapid support force.
International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including the US assessment that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide, have not stopped the fighting.
The Aljairi refinery is located about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of the capital Khartoum. The refinery has been the target of attacks before, as RSF has claimed control of the facility since April 2023 and the refinery’s military has been guarding it. According to local Sudanese media, the RSF surrounded the refinery with a minefield to slow the advance.
But the facility, which can process 100,000 barrels of oil per day, remained largely intact until Thursday. That day, an attack on the refinery set fire to the entire facility, according to satellite data from NASA’s satellites, which track wildfires around the world.
Satellite images taken Friday by Planet Labs PBC for The Associated Press showed large areas of the refinery in flames. Images taken just after 12pm GMT (7am ET) showed flames shooting skyward in several places. The facility’s oil tanks were covered in soot and left burning.
Thick black smoke billowed over the scene and was carried south by the wind towards Khartoum. Exposure to that smoke can worsen respiratory illnesses and increase your risk of cancer.
Sudan’s military claimed in a statement Thursday that the RSF was responsible for the refinery fire.
The statement said the RSF “deliberately set fire to the Khartoum refinery in Al-Jairi this morning in a desperate attempt to destroy the country’s infrastructure.”
“This hateful act reveals the extent of the criminality and decadence of this militia… (and) we will pursue this militia everywhere until we free every corner of their filth.” This strengthens our resolve.”
RSF claimed on Thursday night that Sudanese military aircraft had dropped a “barrel bomb” on the facility, “completely destroying it.” RSF claimed Sudanese forces were using old civilian cargo planes to drop bombs, including a barrel bomb that crashed under mysterious circumstances in October.
Neither the Sudanese military nor the RSF provided evidence to support the alleged duel. But on Saturday, multiple videos were released claiming Burhan forces had entered the refinery compound, with heavy gunfire heard in the background.
Sudanese military spokesperson, Brig. General Nabil Abdallah also told The Associated Press that he had taken control of the refinery. RSF did not immediately address this allegation, nor did it address another allegation that broke Sudanese forces’ month-long siege of the Signal Forces headquarters north of Khartoum.
China, Sudan’s largest trading partner before the war, has not acknowledged the refinery fire. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
China entered Sudan’s oil industry after Chevron withdrew in 1992 amid violence targeting oil workers in a separate civil war. South Sudan gained independence in 2011, taking with it 75% of Sudan’s oil reserves.
“We are watching with great concern the recent escalation in fighting in Sudan,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement on Friday, referring specifically to the refinery attack.
“The Secretary-General urges States parties to refrain from any actions that could have dangerous consequences for Sudan and the region, including serious economic and environmental impacts,” the statement said.
Losing the refinery would have a major impact on the economies of both Sudan and South Sudan.
“If the refinery is destroyed, the Sudanese people will have to rely on more expensive fuel imports,” warned Timothy Liptrot in his analysis of the May 2024 Small Arms Survey. “As the conflict progresses, the RSF and the Sudanese military’s strategy to damage Sudan’s accumulated capital is disintegrating and looks increasingly likely to cause permanent damage to Sudan’s refining infrastructure. There is.”
Sudan has been in a state of instability since a popular uprising forced the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. A brief transition to democracy was derailed in October when Burhan and RSF General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo teamed up to lead a military coup. 2021.
Al-Bashir has been indicted at the International Criminal Court for carrying out genocidal operations in the western region of Darfur in the early 2000s with the RSF’s predecessor, the Janjaweed. Human rights groups and the United Nations say Arab militias allied with the RSF are once again attacking African ethnic groups in the war.
The Biden administration also sanctioned Burhan in his final days for his military’s “deadly attacks on civilians, including airstrikes on protected infrastructure such as schools, markets, and hospitals.” It also said Burhan’s forces were “responsible for using food deprivation as a war tactic and routinely and deliberately denying humanitarian access.”
RSF and Sudanese forces began fighting in April 2023. More than 28,000 people have been killed in the conflict between the two countries, millions have been forced to flee their homes, and some families are left grazing to survive as hunger spreads in parts of the country.
Other estimates suggest the death toll from the conflict is even higher.