320 Sudanese soldiers flee to Chad amid deadly clashes

By Aurore Bonny and James Tasamba

DOUALA, Cameroon (AA) - Around 320 Sudanese soldiers have fled fighting in their country and crossed the border to surrender to the Chadian army, Chad's defense minister announced Wednesday.

Elements of the Sudanese army, including 320 gendarmes, police and military personnel, have entered Chadian territory, where "all have been disarmed and confined," General Daoud Yaya Brahim said while speaking at a press conference, local media reported.

"This war does not concern us," he was quoted as saying by local online media outlet N'Djaména Actu.

He also expressed Chad's inability to contain an eventual spread of the conflict, which would lead to "account rigging, theft and communal conflicts.”

Chad decided to close its borders with Sudan on Saturday after clashes broke out between rival military factions in the neighboring country.

Since then, Chad’s head of state, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, has held conversations with the belligerents, inviting them to a cease-fire and dialogue.

Fighting broke out early Saturday between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group in the capital Khartoum, with gunfire and bombs heard near the army headquarters and presidential palace, according to an Anadolu reporter.

The RSF accused the army of attacking its forces south of Khartoum with light and heavy weapons, while the military said the paramilitary force was “spreading lies” and declared it a “rebel” group.

The dispute between the two sides came to the surface Thursday, when the army said recent movements by the RSF had occurred without coordination and were illegal, with their rift centering around a proposed transition to civilian rule.

More than 180 people have been killed and 1,800 wounded in armed clashes between rival factions in Sudan since the weekend, the United Nations envoy to Sudan said Monday.

Meanwhile, thousands of Sudanese refugees have arrived in eastern Chad amid the ongoing clashes in Sudan, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Sudanese refugees have been registered, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

A joint mission of UN agencies including the UNHCR, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP) was able to “observe the influx of new Sudanese refugees” fleeing fighting in Sudan at the first three sites it visited on Tuesday, said Laura Lo Castro, the UNHCR representative in Chad.

The UNHCR expressed “deep concern” for the safety of civilians in areas affected by the fighting.

“This escalation of violence will only hamper the humanitarian response to those in need across the country and undermine stability and the search for solutions for the millions of forcibly displaced people in the region,” the agency said, calling for urgent de-escalation.

Chad hosts more than 600,000 refugees, including nearly 400,000 from Sudan, according to latest UNHCR figures.

Of the 600,000 refugees, some 145,000 (around 24%) have arrived in Chad since 2018, and new groups continue to arrive every year mainly from Sudan but also from the Central African Republic and Nigeria.​​​​​​​

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency.

Last December, Sudan’s military and political forces signed a framework agreement to resolve the months-long crisis.

The signing of a final agreement was scheduled to take place on April 6 but was delayed. No date has been announced for the signing of the deal.

Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019, was scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.