Two killed in RSF cross-border attack in northern Unity State

RUBKONA – Elements of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shot and killed two young South Sudanese men in a cross-border attack in the northern reaches of Unity State on Sunday morning, according to local residents.

The killings occurred on Feb. 22 at Kilo 10 in Budang Payam, located in the northern part of Rubkona County, just a few miles from the main Payangai settlement.

The victims were identified as Nyak Tater Kuol from Rubkona’s Leek community, and Char Manyuon Tuthiang from Mayom’s Bul community.

Two civilian sources in the area confirmed the incident, stating in interviews with Sudans Post that armed RSF fighters crossed into the South Sudanese border region before opening fire on cattle keepers.

The exact motive behind the deadly shooting remains unknown.

“Two young men identified to be from Nuer Rubkona County have been killed by Sudan Rapid Support Forces on the morning of February 22 in Kilo 10, a few miles away from Payangai, for unknown reasons,” one of the civilian sources said.

Unity State government authorities were not immediately available for comment at the time of reporting.

The border region between Sudan and South Sudan’s Unity State has grown increasingly volatile in recent months as the fallout from Sudan’s internal war spills southward.

Security dynamics in the area shifted dramatically following the RSF’s capture of the strategic, oil-producing area of Heglig—known to South Sudanese as Panthou—on the Sudanese side of the disputed border.

The RSF’s southward advance and subsequent takeover of Heglig has severely disrupted the delicate security balance along the frontier.

The offensive led to the displacement of various South Sudanese opposition forces who had been stationed along the border buffer zones since the outbreak of South Sudan’s civil war in 2013.

These opposition factions, which had historically maintained a quiet presence in the remote borderlands, have been forced to reposition.

This shift has created a security vacuum, leaving civilian border communities increasingly exposed to cross-border raids and unprovoked violence from Sudanese belligerents.