On June 25, 2023, the regular army and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-North) clashed in the Blue Nile region on the border with Ethiopia, opening a new front in the Sudanese conflict that had begun on April 15th, 2023 between General al-Burhan’s troops and General Hemedti’s Rapid Support Forces.
In Sudan, the war is spreading further to new parts of the country. A new front seems to have opened up against the army in the southeastern regions. After the attacks that took place in South Kordofan last week, new clashes took place on June 25th, 2023, between the two sides in the Blue Nile region, on the border with Ethiopia.
According to several sources, the clashes took place on Sunday in Kurmuk capital of the Blue Nile, forcing hundreds of civilians to flee to take refuge in neighboring Ethiopia.
Telephone links, cut with Sudan, the rainy season, and flooded roads, complicate communication with this mountainous city in the far south of the country. For the moment, it is impossible to get testimony from civilians.
In a statement, the Sudanese army claims to have suffered an attack by the SPLM-North in Kurmuk. A senior official of this movement reacted by considering that these attacks constituted an “act of self-defense” against the army, considered as an “occupying force”. Abdelaziz al-Hilu affirms for his part that he “seeks to liberate the whole region”.
This attack led by the SPLM-North against the army follows the two previous ones which took place on June 22nd in South Kordofan. They mark the opening of a new front against the Sudanese army in this region.
This rebel group, a non-signatory of the Juba peace agreement in 2020, breaks the ceasefire agreement between the two parties in force for ten years.