Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces said Wednesday they have seized full control of the remote “border triangle” where Sudan meets Libya and Egypt, hours after General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) confirmed it had pulled back from the windswept desert outpost in what it called a tactical withdrawal.
In a statement, the RSF claimed its fighters “inflicted heavy losses in lives and equipment” on SAF units stationed in the Al-Uwaynat area, adding that dozens of military vehicles were captured.
“Our advance into the northern desert axis represents a strategic shift in securing the borders and protecting the country,” the group said.
The SAF, for its part, said the evacuation was part of “defensive arrangements to repel aggression.” It accused the RSF of mounting the assault with help from Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar and alleged that the United Arab Emirates financed the operation, calling it a flagrant violation of Sudanese sovereignty.
While Haftar’s eastern-based forces dismissed the accusation, saying Khartoum was “exporting its internal crisis by inventing an outside enemy.”
The triangle sits in the far north of North Darfur state, north of El Fashir, a major frontline in Sudan’s civil war, which erupted in April 2023 between the SAF and the RSF.
Long used as a corridor for arms, migrants and smuggled goods, the sparsely populated desert zone is prized for its strategic position astride key trans-Saharan routes.
Fighting in and around the triangle has already pushed tens of thousands of civilians toward Libya, deepening a regional humanitarian crisis even as both Sudanese factions trade blame over the latest flash-point in the widening conflict.
