Sudanese Army Thwarts RSF Assault on Chad Border Town

(MENAFN) Sudan's military and allied joint forces drove back a paramilitary assault Saturday on the border town of El Tina in North Darfur state, repelling fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who had briefly infiltrated the strategically positioned settlement.

The Coordination of Resistance Committees in El Fasher confirmed in a statement that RSF fighters had penetrated El Tina, situated along the Sudan-Chad border, before being met with armed resistance from army troops and allied movement forces, ultimately forcing a withdrawal following intense clashes. The group noted the attacking forces pulled back at the very outset of fighting.

Darfur regional governor Minni Arko Minawi condemned the incursion, describing the RSF assault on El Tina as "targeting unarmed civilians and criminal behavior." In a post on US social media company Facebook, he shared footage purportedly showing joint forces confiscating RSF vehicles and weaponry captured during the confrontation.

Fighters from army-aligned armed movements separately circulated videos on social media from within the town, displaying destroyed combat vehicles, seized weapons, and individuals they identified as RSF detainees.

The claim of victory, however, had initially come from the opposing side — the RSF declared earlier Saturday via its Telegram channel that it had seized control of El Tina.

The battle underscores the broader territorial fault lines defining Sudan's brutal civil war. Of the country's 18 states, the RSF currently dominates all five Darfur states in the west, with the exception of pockets of North Darfur still held by the army. The military retains authority over the majority of remaining states, including the capital, Khartoum.

Darfur alone encompasses roughly one-fifth of Sudan's total landmass — more than 1.8 million square kilometers — though most of the country's estimated 50 million residents live in army-controlled territory.

The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has claimed tens of thousands of lives and uprooted approximately 13 million people, spawning what UN reports describe as one of the world's most catastrophic humanitarian crises, compounded by widespread famine conditions.

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