Sudan war risks spreading after army strike inside Chad, US envoy warns
The US is concerned about a reported Sudanese army air strike inside Chad, American envoy Massad Boulos said on Thursday, warning that the war in Sudan risks spreading across borders and further destabilising the region.
Mr Boulos, President Donald Trump‘s adviser for Arab and African affairs, said he discussed the incident in a call with Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Deby and emphasised the need to stop external military and financial support to the rival forces fighting in Sudan.
“We discussed the recent SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] aerial strike on Chad and underscored our deep concern about the war in Sudan spilling across its borders, fuelling further escalation and threatening regional peace and stability,” Mr Boulos wrote in a post on X.
The comments came after Chad accused Sudan’s army of carrying out air and drone strikes against a convoy inside Chadian territory last week.
Chad’s military authorities said the strikes pursued a convoy more than 100km inside the country’s Ennedi-Est region after it crossed from Sudan. Chad has said the incident violated its sovereignty and placed its forces on heightened alert. It added that it reserved the right to defend its territorial integrity.
Sudan’s army has not publicly acknowledged responsibility. The Sudanese army-led administration had previously accused Chad of allowing fighters and military supplies destined for the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group battling the army, to move through its territory. Chad has denied being a party to the war and has become a major destination for Sudanese refugees fleeing the fighting in the Darfur region.
The African Union on Wednesday expressed concern over reports of air strikes in Ennedi-Est, saying the attacks were connected to the war in Sudan. The bloc’s chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf did not identify those responsible, but called on all sides, in a statement, to exercise “utmost restraint” and prevent the conflict from spreading beyond Sudan’s borders.
Mr Boulos highlighted Chad’s humanitarian role, saying he expressed US appreciation for the country’s efforts to facilitate aid to Darfur and support Sudanese refugees.
Darfur, a vast region in western Sudan, has been a focal point of violence, including ethnically charged killings attributed to the RSF.
The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 after a dispute over the country’s political transition and the integration of the two forces. It has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with an estimated 20 million people suffering from hunger.
Repeated attempts by the US and regional powers to broker a ceasefire in Sudan have failed, with army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan insisting on fighting on until the RSF surrenders or is vanquished.
Though the RSF has been more open to peace talks than the army, it has rejected any process that recognises Gen Al Burhan as Sudan’s leader and his government as legitimate – a condition he has demanded in past mediation efforts.
The US has been pressing for tighter restrictions on arms flows to the warring parties, including expanding an existing UN arms embargo on Darfur to cover all of Sudan.
More than a dozen countries are believed to be supplying arms to Sudan’s warring factions, both of which have been accused of war crimes by the UN.
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