Chadian gunmen are holding members of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for ransom after an airstrike scattered fighters travelling through northern Chad, families and local sources told Darfur24 on Saturday.
The family of a soldier identified as Ahmed said armed men contacted them demanding three million CFA francs for his release. The family, based in the South Darfur capital, Nyala, said he was detained alongside other RSF fighters after they became lost inside Chad near the borders with Sudan and Libya.
Four Sudanese and Chadian sources told Darfur24 that a convoy struck by aircraft in Chad’s Ennedi region belonged to the RSF and had been travelling from Libya towards Sudan through Chadian territory.
Some soldiers were subsequently detained by Chadian gunmen, while others fled into Sudan and were captured by the Joint Force allied with the Sudanese army, the sources said.
The family of another RSF soldier, identified as Al-Mardi, said he was released after they paid one million CFA francs to gunmen who had held him since August. The money was delivered through an intermediary in the border area of Kalma, the family told Darfur24.
He is now receiving treatment at a Chadian hospital for injuries sustained in the airstrike, they said.
Separately, sources cited by Darfur24 alleged that the army-allied Joint Force captured several RSF members, including unit commanders, during August. Some were released in exchange for money, while others were transferred to the Sudanese border town of Tina, according to those accounts.
The Chadian army accused Sudan’s military of carrying out the August 20 airstrikes on a vehicle convoy in Mourdi district, in the eastern Ennedi region near the Sudanese border.
The strikes prompted warnings from countries and regional organisations about the risk of Sudan’s war spilling into neighbouring states.
