Sudan shuts border with Central African Republic amid heightened security presence

Sudan closed its border with the Central African Republic (CAR) and sent military reinforcements to frontier areas, local media reported on Thursday.

This comes amid a heightened security presence on the frontier after a senior Sudanese official announced that his country had stopped a military coup attempt in the CAR moving from Sudan.

Citing Brig. Abashar Adam Balail, the head of the joint forces to secure the borders between Sudan and the CAR, the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported that forces from the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had been redeployed to the frontier between the two African nations.

Balail said Sudan had sent a large force and widely redeployed troops in the area, adding that the border needed to be secured to combat factors of insecurity including the "spread of weapons, drugs, smuggling."

Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti), the deputy chairman of the Sudanese Sovereign Council and head of the RSF, claimed that armed rebel groups had attempted to move from Sudan to change the regime in CAR.

No comment has been made by authorities or opposition groups in the CAR.