Two weeks without power in Sudan's Rabak: ice, water and phone charges soar after a drone attack on the substation
Residents of Rabak, the White Nile state capital, have been without electricity for 14 consecutive days since a drone attack on the Mashkour substation that supplies the city at the end of October, Dabanga reports. With mills, pumps and chargers running on fuel generators, a block of ice costs SDG 60,000, charging a phone costs SDG 5,000, milling 3.5 kg of grain costs SDG 10,000, and water costs SDG 3,000 a container. The substation was one of five hit in a late-October wave that the state electricity company blamed on the RSF; there is no clear indication of when power will be restored.
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Key points
- Rabak has been without electricity for 14 days since a drone attack on the Mashkour substation at the end of October, Dabanga reports.
- Generator-run basics now cost: ice SDG 60,000 a block, a phone charge SDG 5,000, milling 3.5 kg of grain SDG 10,000, water SDG 3,000 a container.
- Mashkour was one of five substations hit in the late-October wave; the Um Dabaker power station near Rabak was struck days later.
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- The state electricity company blames the RSF for the strikes; the RSF has not commented in the reporting read, and no restoration date has been given.
What happened
Rabak is the capital of White Nile state, on the eastern bank of the White Nile facing Kosti. Its blackout is one household-level view of a wider campaign: through late October, drone strikes hit electricity stations across army-held Sudan, from the southeastern grid to Khartoum, and a September UK government assessment estimated the war had already cut Sudan's generation capacity by about 40 percent.
In a city where residents depend on banking applications for daily transactions, a SDG 5,000 phone charge is not a convenience fee — it is the price of access to money itself, on top of food, water and refrigeration costs that rise with every day the substation stays down.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- Rabak's outage has lasted 14 days since the Mashkour substation attack, and residents' prices for ice, water, milling and phone charging are as Dabanga reports them.
- Mashkour was one of five substations struck in the wave from 26 October, and the Um Dabaker station near Rabak was hit on 29 October.
- The state electricity company attributes the strikes to the RSF.
What we don't know yet
- When power will be restored to Rabak — no timeline has been announced.
- Whether the RSF carried out the Mashkour strike — the attribution is the electricity company's, and the RSF has not commented in the reporting read.
- How far beyond Rabak the same price shock runs — Dabanga's figures are from this one city.
Claim by claim
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Why this label: Dabanga, the independent Sudanese broadcaster, reports the 14-day outage and its cause from Rabak itself. Sudan War Monitor's account of the late-October strike wave independently places Mashkour among the substations hit, on the electricity company's own statement.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The figures are Dabanga's, gathered from residents in Rabak, where mills, water pumps and charging services have switched to fuel-powered generators. They are the prices reported in the city, not a national price survey.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Dabanga's reporting from residents of Rabak, including a resident who asked not to be identified and a mother describing children's schooling after dark.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The five-station wave and the company's grid account are reported by Sudan War Monitor from the company's statement and Sudan Tribune's reporting; the Um Dabaker strike and its effect on the two states are reported by The Eastleigh Voice and Sudan War Monitor in agreement.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The attribution is the state company's, reported by Sudan War Monitor and Reuters. The RSF did not comment in the reporting read, and the strikes themselves are not independently attributed here.
On the ladder: credible sources conflict, so we show both workings. One side's own statement is that side's position — never proof.
Why this label: Dabanga reports no restoration timeline from residents, and the electricity company announced inspections of the damaged stations without a date for normal supplies to resume, per Sudan War Monitor.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
Why it matters
Sudan's drone war is increasingly fought against the grid, and Rabak shows what that means at household level: two weeks in which ice, water, flour and a charged phone all became generator-priced luxuries. With no restoration date announced, the city's costs will keep compounding — and the same pattern is repeating in other blacked-out Sudanese towns.
Background
Drone strikes hit five electricity substations — Singa, Al-Hawata, Al-Faw, Mashkour and Al-Junaid — blacking out Sudan's southeastern grid, the state electricity company said.
Drones strike the Um Dabaker thermal power station near Rabak, interrupting supplies to White Nile and North Kordofan.
Dabanga reports Rabak's outage has reached 14 days, with ice, water, milling and phone charging all at generator prices.
Update history
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Published in Checking state — checking continues, and claims are labelled as reporting develops. Basis: Dabanga's reporting from Rabak.