Thousands flee to Ethiopia

Recent clashes in Blue Nile have forced many to take refuge in neighboring Sennar state

2500-3000 people have fled to Ethiopia to escape recent clashes in the state of Blue Nile, north of Sudan, reports emerged on Sunday.Radio Dabanga reported last Friday about opening of a battle on a third front in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and opposition forces from several groups including the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA-North) and Darfur-based armed movements.

Reports from the ground also suggested that tens of thousands of citizens have fled Damazin, the epicenter of the latest spate of attacks. The city has become almost empty owing to people fleeing to the neighboring cities of Sennar and Singar.

Hudhayfah Mohiuddin Mohammed, spokesperson of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in the central Sudan said in a statement, “Approximately 150,000 people who were forced to flee from the Blue Nile State now live in camps in Haroon and Singa areas of Sennar State under bad humanitarian conditions.”

A citizen of the Blue Nile described the the situation in the state as very difficult, especially the humanitarian plight of thousands of people fleeing the state. “In addition to that there are arrests and random shootings by the forces of the Central Reserve Forces or the Abu Tira,” she told Radio Dabanga.

SPLA enters Talodi, South Kordofan

In the south of the country, the SPLA-South Kordofan said on Sunday that it had entered the regions of Um Dahlib and Murang locality in Talodi and liberated it from the hold of the Sudanese army by the end of last week.

Talodi was the site of a recent air raid conducted by the Sudanese Air Force.

Qamar Dahlman, media adviser to the head of SPLM (South Kordofan) told Radio Dabanga that government forces had killed 17 citizens of Murang on charges of belonging to the opposition group only hours before SPLA entered the region.

Dahlman added that the SPLA had now surrounded Talodi and Kadugli.