Military Transport Plane Crashes Near Port Sudan Airbase; All Crew Killed Amid Escalating RSF Gains

A military transport aircraft, an Ilyushin Il-76, crashed while attempting to land at the Osman Digna airbase near Port Sudan on Tuesday, killing all crew members aboard, two military sources told AFP. The sources said the aircraft suffered a technical malfunction during the approach. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), aligned with the government, has not disclosed the number of people on board.

The Osman Digna airbase sits adjacent to Port Sudan's main airport. The last major incident at the site occurred in May, when drone strikes hit several locations across Port Sudan, including parts of the airfield.

Wider Military Context

The crash comes amid a series of setbacks for the SAF as fighting shifts to central Sudan. On Monday, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the Heglig oilfield in West Kordofan after SAF forces reportedly abandoned their positions, according to the Sudan Tribune. Heglig — Sudan's largest oil processing facility — handles roughly 80,000–100,000 barrels of crude per day for Sudan and South Sudan, and the export pipeline to Port Sudan traverses the area.

Military sources also told Al Jazeera that SAF was withdrawing from Babnusa, a strategic gateway in West Kordofan that the RSF says it seized in early December. Analysts warn that RSF gains across Kordofan and other central regions threaten to bisect the country, potentially isolating army-held territory and creating a continuous zone of paramilitary control stretching from Chad into Sudan's interior.

Ahmed Ibrahim, a former adviser to the Sudanese government, told Al Jazeera the RSF's Heglig offensive appeared aimed at drawing neighboring South Sudan into the conflict or at least leveraging regional dynamics to the RSF's advantage.

International Developments

On the same day as the crash, the United States announced sanctions on four Colombian nationals and four companies accused of recruiting former military personnel to fight for the RSF. A November report by The Sentry named the UAE-based Global Security Services Group as facilitating the deployment of Colombian mercenaries to Sudan; that firm was not among those sanctioned. The UAE has repeatedly denied providing support to the RSF.

Also on Tuesday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Ali Kushayb, a former Popular Defence Forces (Janjaweed) leader, to 20 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2004. The conviction is the ICC's first securing accountability for crimes committed in Darfur.

Humanitarian Impact

The conflict, which resumed in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 12 million people. The World Food Programme warns roughly 20 million people now face acute food shortages, with about six million on the brink of starvation.

Javid Abdelmoneim, international president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), wrote that the world must not accept 'a new normal' of mass atrocities in Sudan and warned that the fall of el-Fasher may be only a milestone in further catastrophic violence, particularly in Kordofan.

Investigations into the exact cause of the Il-76 crash are ongoing. SAF statements and independent confirmations remain limited amid the intensifying conflict and restricted access to affected areas.