Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and allied fighters from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North entered Kurmuk in Blue Nile state on Thursday, military and government sources said, as Sudanese army forces withdrew and repositioned outside the strategically important border town.
Kurmuk lies on a cross-border route linking Ethiopia with Sudan’s Blue Nile region and the wider Nile Valley. The RSF said its coalition forced the army to withdraw and seized weapons and ammunition, while the local administration said the town had faced three days of attacks involving drones and artillery.
What the sides say about Kurmuk
An RSF statement said its forces and allies inflicted heavy losses on army troops in Kurmuk. The local administration, however, said the army was continuing to confront the attacks in defence of the town, residents and public institutions.
The competing accounts indicate that fighting was continuing as the RSF-led forces advanced. The local administration said the attacks originated from “the regional neighbourhood,” without providing further detail in the supplied material.
Related coverage: Mass grave found after Sudan army retakes Kurmuk.
A town contested again
The RSF seized Kurmuk in March, but the Sudanese army recaptured it the following month. The latest advance marks another change in control of the town during Sudan’s continuing war.
The conflict began in April 2023 after a dispute between the army and the RSF over plans to integrate the paramilitary force into the regular military.
Fighting also reported in North Kordofan
The army said it repelled an RSF attack on Jabra al-Sheikh, a major transport hub in North Kordofan. Military sources said the assault involved heavy artillery, drones and more than 250 combat vehicles, and that RSF fighters were captured while dozens were killed.
More context: Mali’s northern conflict intensifies as separatists and al-Qaeda affiliate join forces.
Control of Jabra al-Sheikh could give the RSF a position from which to pressure el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, and Omdurman near Khartoum. The latest fighting followed coordinated RSF drone strikes on five army-controlled cities the previous day; Emergency Lawyers said those attacks killed two people in el-Obeid and paralysed its market.
Human cost of the war
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced or forced nearly 15 million to flee their homes, according to UN figures, local authorities and academic estimates. Aid workers estimate that more than 200,000 people have been killed across Sudan, while the United Nations describes the conflict as a war of atrocities.
The fighting has also created what the supplied material describes as the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
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