Drone Strike on Abyei Market Exposes Vast Fuel Trade Sustaining Sudan’s War

NAIROBI: A devastating drone strike on the Amiet market in the contested Abyei region has killed over 150 people, highlighting the extensive and complex fuel supply lines that sustain the ongoing conflict in Sudan. The attack, widely believed to have targeted a fuel depot utilized by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, flattened local shops and stalls where displaced individuals, like Awad Usham Al-Amin, sought refuge and livelihoods far from the frontlines of the Sudanese war.

Al-Amin, a refugee fleeing the violence in Sudan, described the strike as an unwelcome extension of the conflict he had desperately tried to escape. “I came as a refugee, running from Sudan … but still faced with another conflict here,” he told Reuters, nursing shrapnel wounds to his hand and leg. The Amiet market served as a crucial hub for local trade and fuel distribution, where refugees offloaded cargo and transported goods to survive.

According to five diplomats and analysts monitoring the conflict, the targeted market is a key node in a regional fuel network supporting RSF operations across Sudan. Large quantities of fuel imported into South Sudan are routed through Abyei, where RSF networks collect the shipments before transporting them in smaller quantities deeper into Sudan. A diplomatic source confirmed that the airstrike specifically aimed at fuel storage facilities and a truck suspected of carrying fuel, underscoring the direct targeting of the RSF’s logistical chain.

The presence of the RSF in Abyei is highly covert, with fighters often embedded within the local community to evade detection. Diplomats and experts note that officials in South Sudan have facilitated the import and transit of fuel to these networks, although a spokesperson for Juba’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In response to the strike, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir issued a firm statement declaring, “Abyei must not become a theater for conflict in Sudan,” as thousands of refugees continue to seek safety in the region.

Sudan’s government has officially disavowed any involvement in the incident, stating it had “no connection whatsoever to this tragic incident,” while the RSF-led parallel government has called for a United Nations investigation. Local leaders, including Yohana Akol Ngor, the caretaker minister of information in Abyei, have blamed the Sudanese army for the strike, prompting Juba to summon Sudan’s ambassador. Chol Deng Chol, chairperson of the Abyei chamber of commerce, emphasized that while the RSF utilizes the market to stockpile fuel for operations in Kordofan and Darfur, Khartoum has no legal authority to conduct military strikes within Abyei’s borders, noting that ten fuel tankers were destroyed in the attack.

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