Pitched battles between army and JEM in Umm Katkoot near El Fasher

The Justice and Equality Movement announced on Tuesday it had clashed with the Sudanese army in the area of Um Katkoot, on the road between El Fasher and Kuma. The rebels claimed that they have severely defeated the army and forced it to flee. Ali Al Wafi, the movement’s military spokesman, told Radio Dabanga that JEM forces also captured in the battle various weapons.

His remarks follow an announcement by the armed forces claiming that they had driven JEM forces from Jebel Adoula, which is in an area between North and South Darfur states, after an hour of fighting. The official spokesman of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Al Sawarmi Khaled Saad, said that that Adoula region was now entirely rid of the Justice and Equality Movement. He suggested that the JEM forces had been using the area as a base, having been driven from their farther western base in Jebel Moon in mid May. For its part, the Justice and Equality Movement denied that the army took control of Jebel Adoula, saying that the movement’s forces had already left the area after clashing with the army between June 3 and June 18.