General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) have redeployed several combat aircraft to neighbouring Eritrea after a string of RSF drone strikes hit civilian and military sites in Port Sudan beginning on 4 May, security sources told local media.
The precautionary move comes amid wider regional frictions. A high-level Ethiopian intelligence delegation led by spy chief Redwan Hussien and former Tigray commander Getachew Reda visited Port Sudan last week, signalling Addis Ababa’s unease over Sudan’s growing military cooperation with Asmara as Ethiopia seeks its own access to the Red Sea.
Reports say Eritrea has already stationed naval vessels off Sudan’s coast, hosted Sudanese fighter jets at its airfields and trained thousands of Darfuri rebels now fighting alongside SAF-allied forces in Kordofan and Darfur.
The Eritrea–Ethiopia rivalry has flared for a second straight week, with Addis Ababa insisting on its “legitimate right” to a sea outlet—specifically Eritrea’s Assab port, which Asmara calls a national sovereignty symbol and refuses to discuss.
Diplomatic sources in Khartoum warn the crisis could realign alliances across the Horn of Africa, although an outright Eritrea-Ethiopia clash remains unlikely for now.
Regional observers say the coming weeks will show whether stepped-up diplomacy can head off further escalation.
