Chad warns neighbor of retaliation
Chadian leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has ordered the army to retaliate against attacks from Sudan after a drone strike killed at least 17 people, including mourners, near the border between the two countries.
The border town of Tine was struck on Wednesday afternoon during a funeral gathering at a house. A resident cited by Reuters said two explosions hit the area, with casualties including children who had been playing nearby.
Chadian officials have blamed “Sudanese belligerents” for the strike, accusing them of seeking to destabilize the former French colony by “transferring their own intercommunal conflict” there.
At an emergency meeting in response to the incident, Mahamat Deby, appearing in full military uniform, described the attack as “outrageous” and a “blatant aggression” against Chad’s territorial integrity.
He warned that future assaults will not be tolerated and instructed the Chadian National Army to “respond to any attack, regardless of its source, whether from the Sudanese government or the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).”
The incident comes amid escalating violence linked to Sudan’s ongoing civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF, which has spilled over into border regions. The fighting, which erupted in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, according to the UN.
Sudan descended into chaos in April 2023 when fighting erupted between the national army (Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This occurred after months of tension between their commanders, army generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti’, respectively, over a planned transition to civilian rule. What began in the capital, Khartoum, as a power struggle has devastated the country, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.
Regional and international peace efforts, including African Union mediation and Saudi–US talks in Jeddah, have repeatedly stalled. Sudanese officials have named Colombians and Ukrainians among mercenaries backing the RSF against the army. Officials have also accused Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates of involvement and recently claimed the European Union has an “incomplete understanding of the complex situation” in the country.
Khartoum has also accused authorities in neighboring Kenya of backing the RSF and has broken ties with the East African grouping IGAD amid mistrust of regional mediation. In July, TASIS, a political coalition aligned with the paramilitary, announced the formation of a rival government months after its members signed a charter in Nairobi. It named Gen. Dagalo as chairman of a 15-member presidential council, a move rejected by the UN and AU.
Recent weeks have seen a rise in drone attacks in western Sudan, including strikes on markets and civilian areas near the Chadian border. The organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reported multiple incidents causing civilian casualties, including attacks that killed and injured dozens in Darfur.
Chad last month shut its eastern border with Sudan after five soldiers and three civilians were killed in clashes allegedly involving the SAF and RSF. At least 12 others were wounded in the incident, which also occurred in Tine, officials said.
On Wednesday, President Mahamat Deby ordered national defense and security forces to “secure the entire border between Chad and Sudan … and to deal firmly with any developments.”
