SPLM-N claims victories in Blue Nile, South Kordofan

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) says that its combatants killed ten government troops in Blue Nile state on Monday. Last week, it seized two military garrisons in South Kordofan.

SPLM-N spokesman Arno Ngutulu Lodi reported to Radio Dabanga from the field on Tuesday that rebel fighters attacked a convoy of army soldiers and paramilitaries in the area of Jebel Kolgo on Monday afternoon.

“The convoy attempted to force its way into the Engassana Mountains,” he said. “We killed ten government troops, and chased the rest until the outskirts of Ed Damazin [capital of Blue Nile state],” he said.

The rebel forces seized a number of weapons and ammunition, and destroyed a military vehicle mounted with a Dushka machine gun.

South Kordofan

Last Wednesday, SPLM-N forces took control of the garrisons of Gadeer and Abu Girein, Lodi said in a press statement on Tuesday.

They seized a number of canons and large qualities of guns, machine guns and Kalashnikov rifles from the garrisons.

The rebel spokesman pointed out that the two garrisons are connecting the eastern and western parts of the Nuba Mountains. The defeat is directly affecting the strategic garrison of Liri in the southern part of South Kordofan.

The SPLM-N is at war with the Sudanese government in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile (the Two Areas) since 2011.

Peace negotiations Khartoum and the rebel movement, under auspices of the AU High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), reached a deadlock in December last year, as the rebels insisted on the approach of a comprehensive solution for all the crises in the country, while the government adhered to its stance of a cessation of hostilities for the Two Areas only.