Sudan's border with Central African Republic closed, says deputy leader

Move was to prevent 'sedition and maintain good neighbourliness'

Sudan's paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo attends a ceremony in Khartoum aimed at ending a deep crisis caused by last year's military coup. AFP

Sudan has closed its border with the Central Africa Republic, citing “sedition” and unspecified security challenges, the deputy head of Sudan's ruling Sovereign Council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, said on Tuesday.

Mr Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, who runs the Rapid Support Forces, said the border was closed to prevent “sedition and maintain good neighbourliness”.

He accused several unnamed parties of planning regime change in the Central Africa Republic from within the Sudanese border.

“We were able to thwart the attempt to overthrow the regime in Central Africa Republic and arrested those involved. We’ve also opened camps to control and monitor the Sudanese border with Central Africa," he said after he facilitated a signing ceremony to stop the violence between two rival tribes in the area.

The Sudanese general has been touring several areas in the western Darfur area this week.

Ethnic clashes regularly erupt in Darfur, a troubled arid region awash with automatic weapons still reeling from the bitter civil war that erupted in 2003.

Sudan’s transitional government first ordered the immediate closure of the nation’s border with Central African Republic in 2019, citing unspecified security and economic “dangers”.

Sudan has often complained about arms trafficked through its borders with Libya and Central African Republic. Conflicts in both nations have left their governments with little or no control of security over swathes of their territory.