The official army of the South Sudan government has confirmed that it has sent its troops to the Heglig oil refinery after it was captured by the Rapid Support Forces. The confirmation came just as the Sudanese Armed Forces bombed the RSF and their allies at the Heglig oil refinery with drones. The South Sudan People’s Defence Forces have stated that they are cooperating with the RSF and the SAF.
Previous reports have long confirmed that the RSF are using South Sudan as part of their logistics and supplies network with Ethiopia also being part of this network. On the western side of Sudan’s border, Chad is in an informal alliance with the RSF and in the north, the Libyan rump dictator Khalifa Haftar helped the RSF gain control of the Sudanese side of the Libyan-Sudanese border triangle. The RSF also have a headquarters in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi.
Colombian mercenaries have also been working for the RSF including on technical support and flying drones, but the US and the Colombian governments are clamping down on this practice. The RSF are supplied and funded by the UAE. The RSF are on an extensive genocidal killing spree in Darfur, killings tens of thousands of Masalit and non-Arab peoples.
Sudan is in a very vulnerable position and most of its neighbours are siding with the UAE’s position of supporting the RSF. Relations between the Sudanese government and the governments of South Sudan, Ethiopia and Chad are also strained and difficult. Chad is also hosting up to 900,000 Sudanese refugees in its border territories which were already beset by poverty and deprived of infrastructure before the migrants’ arrival. Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia remain three of Sudan’s strongest allies at the moment with all of them supporting the preservation of Sudan’s territorial integrity.
Below: map of territories controlled by the RSF from Vista Maps.
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