KHARTOUM: Sudanese paramilitary forces have advanced on army positions near the southeastern border with Ethiopia, according to the group and an eyewitness who spoke to AFP Wednesday.
Control over Sudan’s southeastern Blue Nile State, bordering both Ethiopia and South Sudan, is split between the army and a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, allies of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
In a statement released Tuesday, the SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, said they had “liberated the strategic city of Deim Mansour and areas of Bashir Nuqu and Khor Al-Budi.”
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the RSF. In February of last year, the RSF announced a surprise alliance with the SPLM-N, securing experienced fighters, land and border access.
Deim Mansour lies between the SPLM-N stronghold Yabus, birthplace of their deputy commander Joseph Tuka, and the army-held town of Kurmuk, which hosts a large army contingent.
Babiker Khaled, who fled to Kurmuk, told AFP that SPLM-N fighters began amassing in the forests around Deim Mansour on Sunday.
“The shelling began on Monday, they entered the city on Tuesday,” he said, adding that “some people fled into Ethiopia, others arrived in Kurmuk.”
From its foothold in the southern Blue Nile, a thin strip of land jutting south between Ethiopia and South Sudan, the SPLM-N maintains reported supply lines from both countries, building on decades-old links.
Close to three years of war in Sudan have left tens of thousands dead and around 11 million displaced, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
It has also torn the country apart, with the army holding the center, north and east of Sudan while the RSF and its allies dominate the west and parts of the south.
Sudan’s Kordofan region, where the SPLM-N has its other foothold in the Nuba Mountains, is currently the war’s fiercest battleground.
On Tuesday, the army broke a paramilitary siege on South Kordofan state capital Kadugli, days after breaking another on the nearby city of Dilling.
Sudan paramilitary advances near Ethiopia border
https://arab.news/8p2uv
Sudan paramilitary advances near Ethiopia border
- Sudan’s Kordofan region, where the SPLM-N has its other foothold in the Nuba Mountains, is currently the war’s fiercest battleground
Iran’s foreign minister heads to Muscat for nuclear talks with US
- Iran will engage in the talks “with authority and with the aim of reaching a fair, mutually acceptable and dignified understanding on the nuclear issue,” a spokesperson said
TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has departed for the Omani capital Muscat at the head of a diplomatic delegation for nuclear talks with the US due to be held on Friday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson said.
The US and Iran have agreed to hold talks in Oman on Friday, officials for both sides said, even as they remain at odds over Washington’s insistence that negotiations must include Tehran’s missile arsenal and Iran’s vow to discuss only its nuclear program.
Iran will engage in the talks “with authority and with the aim of reaching a fair, mutually acceptable and dignified understanding on the nuclear issue,” the spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday.
“We hope the American side will also participate in this process with responsibility, realism and seriousness,” Baghaei added.
