Sudanese army prepares for major offensive in Nuba Mountains

Satellite photographs have revealed the deployment of more Sudanese troops and equipment into the Nuba Mountains region in preparation for an offensive against the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N). Sudan’s Defence Minister, Abdelrahim Mohamed Husein, announced in parliament on Monday the start of a summer campaign in the Nuba Mountains. He stated that the war in Darfur has subsided, suggesting that more troops could be shifted into South Kordofan. Army troops as well as allied militia from Darfur have been deployed in force to the Kauda valley of the Nuba Mountains region, according to satellite imagery analysis and local reports. Recent satellite images of the troops were published on Tuesday by the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), a partnership between commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe and the Enough Project, which is associated with US activists John Prendergast and actor George Clooney. The images show “a significant mobilisation of Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) around Rashad, Delaba, and Um Abdalah in the Nuba Mountains,” the Enough Project stated in a brief report. “The SAF mobilisation, which includes the movement of heavy weaponry into the area, appears to be in preparation for an assault on rebel Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) bases in the Kauda valley,” added the project report. Enough Project also stated that the imagery confirms the presence of a Chinese-manufactured WS-01 multiple rocket launcher in Delaba area. This weapon launches huge rockets that reportedly have a range of between 80 and 180 km. Janjaweed militias Multiple sources are reporting that government militia from Darfur are being deployed into South Kordofan to assist the army in its offensive. Sudan’s director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Mohamad El Atta, said publicly last Friday that Khartoum has dispatched extra Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to South Kordofan to fight the SPLA-N rebels. RSF is the formal term given to the Janjaweed as per their integration under the command of the NISS. The group is most active in North Darfur. In its latest report, the Enough Project warned: “The mobilisation of the Sudan Armed Forces in the Kauda valley in the Nuba Mountains is of immediate concern given the presence of heavy weaponry and Rapid Support Forces, reconstituted Janjaweed militias, in the area.” The deployment of the government RSF prompted a reaction from the SPLA-N, which controls much of the Nuba Mountains. Commander Abdel Aziz El Hilu issued a statement accusing the government of mobilising ‘tribal militias’ against the region. “The government will cover up these attacks, describing them as tribal clashes,” he predicted. The commander claimed that a force of RSF was stationed in El Fayd village in Rashad district in the Nuba Mountains under the command of Brig. Gen. Abdel-Samad Babiker, Lt. Col. Mohamed El Fatih Ahmed, and Maj. Gen. Mohamed El Rabie.(Radio Tamazuj) File photo: A motorised infantry battalion immediately east of Um Abdalah, South Kordofan, 13 April 2014. Gun-mounted pick-up trucks (‘technicals’), tanks, and cargo trucks are visible.The photo below shows the deployment of a WS-01 multiple rocket launcher  and one 2S1 self-propelled artillery gun to an installation south of Delaba on April 9, 2014. (DigitalGlobe / Enough Project)Related:More than 24,900 civilians displaced in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains: SPLM-N (27 November 2013)Sudanese army planning ‘large operations’ against rebels: Minister (13 November 2013)Five die, 20 children injured in air raid on school in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains (29 October 2013)