Crowds and Reciprocal Shelling Near Al-Tina on the Border with Chad

Three sources from North Darfur said on Sunday that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia had massed hundreds of troops in the areas of Edd Al-Khair, Jergira, Gadeer, and several valleys near West Darfur State, in preparation for a possible attack on the border town of Al-Tina with Chad, amid reciprocal drone strikes by both sides.

The town witnessed intense fighting last February between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their allies on one side, and the RSF militia on the other, as the latter sought to seize the final strongholds of the army and the Joint Force in the Darfur region.

Video clips verified by Darfur24 showed convoys of combat vehicles moving through Jergira and northwest of Kutum in North Darfur State, with soldiers seen making hand gestures and chanting hostile slogans. Other verified footage also showed combat vehicles burning in one of the valleys.

An eyewitness told Darfur24 that the RSF militia had deployed more than 60 combat vehicles in Edd Al-Khair, located about 30 kilometers southeast of Al-Tina, in addition to other vehicles in Jergira about 30 kilometers south of the town, as well as additional military build-ups in Gadeer east of Al-Tina.

He added that a strategic drone believed to belong to the Sudanese Armed Forces struck an RSF gathering in Wadi Sira south of Al-Tina.

Meanwhile, another source in the Chadian town of Al-Tina told Darfur24 that the Chadian army had reinforced its presence along the border between the two countries, tightened entry and exit procedures, and begun digging a deep trench along the border adjacent to Sudanese Al-Tina.