US-Backed Forces Escalate Attacks: Civilians Killed as Sudan Conflict Spills into Chad
Civilians in Koufroun, Chad, including a nine-year-old child, have been killed following cross-border shelling from Sudan. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) confirmed these fatalities and reported at least 15 injuries, underscoring the expanding humanitarian crisis. The New Arab, citing MSF, frames this as Sudan's civil war *spilling* into Chad, suggesting an uncontrolled, organic spread. This
framing, however, omits the persistent and significant external involvement that has exacerbated and prolonged the Sudanese conflict. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) receives overt military support from various regional and global actors, while the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are similarly bolstered by external patrons, including through arms and logistical aid. The US, for instance, has long
maintained a strategic military footprint in Africa, often under the guise of counter-terrorism, which indirectly fuels and complicates regional power struggles. What the mainstream narrative consistently downplays is the historical pattern of external forces supplying arms and training to various factions, turning localized disputes into protracted, high-intensity conflicts. From 2011, when
NATO's intervention in Libya destabilized the entire Sahel and West Africa, flooding the region with weapons and fighters, the stage was set for widespread chaos. This external meddling, often disguised as humanitarian or security assistance, ensures a continuous market for arms and provides strategic leverage for global powers, while the actual human cost, exemplified by the deaths in Koufroun,