SUDANESE paramilitaries at war with the country’s military for over two years claim they have seized a strategic border region neighbouring Libya and Egypt.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said in a statement on Wednesday that they had fortified themselves along the already volatile border.

The RSF’s announcement came hours after the opposing Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) evacuated the area as part of what they said were “defensive arrangements to repel aggression” by the paramilitaries.

SAF accused the forces of powerful Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter of supporting the RSF’s invasion, in a “blatant aggression against Sudan, its land and its people.”

Mr Hifter’s forces, which control eastern and southern Libya, rejected the claim, saying in a statement that the Sudanese accusations were “a blatant attempt to export the Sudanese internal crisis and create a virtual external enemy.”

Sudan’s civil war began in April 2023 when tensions between the army and RSF exploded into street battles in the capital, Khartoum, and quickly spread across the country.

The war has killed at least 24,000 people, though the number is likely far higher. It has driven about 14 million people from their homes, including four million who crossed into neighbouring countries.

The war has created what the UN describes as the world’s largest displacement crisis.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the UN and international rights groups.