South Sudan military has assumed control of the strategic Heglig oil field in neighboring Sudan under a rare agreement with both sides in Sudan’s civil war, officials said Wednesday, in a bid to shield vital energy infrastructure from further damage.
The move follows the Rapid Support Forces’ brief capture of the field on Dec. 8 and a deadly Sudanese army drone strike two days ago that killed dozens of people.
South Sudan People’s Defence Forces chief of staff Gen. Paul Nang told reporters at the site that troops deployed under a tripartite deal involving South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, Sudanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
“Our mission is to fully neutralize Heglig from combat operations,” Nang said. “This field is the economic lifeline for both countries. We will remain strictly neutral.”
Both Sudanese armies have agreed to pull their forces out of the area, he said.
Drone attack killed dozens
The agreement came hours after a Sudanese military drone struck RSF positions inside the facility Tuesday evening. The attack killed at least three South Sudanese soldiers and an unknown number of RSF fighters and civilians, according to local authorities and tribal leaders.
Some reports said seven tribal mediators were among the dead. The Sudanese army confirmed it carried out the strike but provided no casualty figures.
Thousands of Sudanese troops cross border
Approximately 3,900 Sudanese government soldiers retreated into South Sudan’s Unity State after abandoning Heglig, surrendering tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces to South Sudanese forces, Unity State officials said.
Thousands of civilians have also fled across the border since Sunday, they added.
Oil at the heart of the deal
Heglig is Sudan’s largest producing oilfield and home to the main processing facility for South Sudanese crude, with capacity to handle up to 130,000 barrels per day for export through pipelines running to Sudan’s Red Sea coast.
Any prolonged disruption would cripple revenue for both cash-strapped nations.
Jan Pospisil, a South Sudan analyst at Coventry University in Britain, said the arrangement reflects battlefield realities more than goodwill.
“The army in Khartoum would rather see neutral South Sudanese troops hold Heglig than allow the RSF to gain another source of income,” Pospisil told The Associated Press. “The RSF has proven vulnerable to air attacks and appears focused on territorial control rather than immediate oil revenue.”
The Heglig takeover marks the latest gain for the RSF as Sudan’s 20-month war shifts from Darfur — now largely under paramilitary control — toward the oil-bearing regions of Kordofan.
The conflict, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF, has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million.
For the moment, South Sudanese soldiers stand guard over one of the most contested pieces of real estate in the Horn of Africa, in a fragile arrangement that both Sudanese sides have accepted — at least on paper.
