A Sudanese military cargo aircraft crashed in eastern Sudan on Tuesday, killing all crew members aboard, military officials confirmed, marking the latest aviation tragedy in the war-ravaged nation.
The Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane experienced a technical failure while attempting to land at the Osman Digna Air Base in the coastal city of Port Sudan, two military officials reported on Wednesday. The crash occurred as the military faces mounting pressure and significant setbacks in its ongoing conflict with the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
While the military has not officially commented on the crash, and the total number of casualties remains undisclosed, prominent Sudanese journalist Osman Mirghani mourned the death of his nephew, military pilot Omran Mirghani, on social media, confirming one of the victims.
The loss comes at a critical time for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The military recently suffered major strategic losses, including the fall of El-Fasher, its last stronghold in the sprawling Darfur region, last October. Earlier this week, the SAF was reportedly forced to withdraw from the country’s largest oil processing facility in the central region of Kordofan, further depleting its resources and strategic positions.
This incident also shines a light on Sudan’s poor aviation safety record, which has seen numerous crashes. In February, a separate military aircraft crash in a densely populated area of Omdurman, Khartoum’s sister city, killed at least 46 people, including women and children.
The devastating plane crash serves as a grim reminder of the deteriorating security situation and the broader human cost of the war that began in April 2023 over a power struggle between the military and the RSF.
Adding to the gravity of the situation, the United Nations is raising alarms over widespread atrocities linked to the RSF’s operations.
On Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that war crimes and “potentially” crimes against humanity have been committed in El-Fasher, which the RSF seized in late October.
“We are talking about very serious atrocity crimes… war crimes for sure [and] potentially also crimes against humanity,” Türk told journalists in Geneva, describing the state of affairs as an “extremely serious situation.”
Türk also issued a warning for the central region of Kordofan, where the RSF has recently intensified attacks, calling for an immediate ceasefire. “We cannot allow a repeat of this absolutely horrific situation in Kordofan,” he stated.
The conflict has resulted in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, pushing parts of the country toward famine. While rights groups estimate the casualty count far exceeds the 40,000 officially reported, the fighting has wrecked urban areas and been marked by ethnically motivated killings and mass rape, which international bodies categorize as war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in Darfur.
