South Sudanese pilot killed in SAF airstrike on RSF-operated airport

NYALA – A South Sudanese pilot, Samson Ohide, was killed last week in an airstrike by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Nyala airport, the capital of South Darfur state, sources from the South Sudan Pilots Association said.

The airport has been used by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to transport military equipment.

Multiple sources within the association told Sudans Post that Ohide was the secretary-general of the association and was part of the crew of a Kenyan plane that had been transporting supplies to the RSF-controlled territory.

“He was working for a Kenyan air company that has been transporting both military and other supplies to Nyala. He was advised that it was not safe for him, and Nyala airport is not one of the humanitarian routes agreed by the parties to the conflict,” one source from the association told Sudans Post.

The source added, “He was the secretary-general of the association, and his death is a big loss not only to his family, but to the association. It would be very good that South Sudanese citizens don’t risk their lives in missions such as this one.”

Other sources confirmed to Sudans Post that Ohide was killed along with several other Kenyan crew members and a number of foreigners, some of whom died after arriving at Nyala hospital.

His body has not yet recovered.

A video uploaded to Ohide’s Facebook profile shows him landing in an airport that has been geolocated by Sudans Post to Nyala airport runway on January 14, suggesting his last trip was not the first time for him to land in the South Darfur airport.

According to the South Sudan Pilots Association, Ohide was also a pilot with the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF), the country’s army, and was serving simultaneously with the SSPDF at the time of his death.

The incident occurred days after the SAF launched airstrikes on positions inside Nyala International Airport at dawn on Saturday.

Residents reported hearing at least three explosions at the airport hours after the plane Ohide was on landed.

The plane was suspected of being part of an airlift supplying the RSF with weapons and military equipment.

Security sources in Port Sudan said the army shelled sites inside the airport, including an airstrip formerly used by the U.N.-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). A residential building near the airport was also targeted, the sources added.

Following the bombing, the RSF deployed a large number of its fighters inside Nyala and on outbound roads and launched an arrest campaign targeting young civilians and retired army and police personnel.