Army Repels Attack by Militia and SPLM-North in Blue Nile State
Damazin – Sudanhorizon
The Sudanese Army announced on Thursday that it had repelled a new attack launched by the alliance of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) rebels and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a strategic area in Qeisan locality in the Blue Nile region, in an attempt to capture the town of Qeisan.
In a statement issued Thursday, the army said its forces in the Blue Nile region, located in southeastern Sudan, confronted a new assault by the RSF and SPLM-North alliance targeting the Amora station area.
According to the statement, forces from the 13th Infantry Brigade in Kurmuk, operating under the eastern sector of the 4th Infantry Division, achieved another victory by repelling an attack carried out by the RSF militia and the SPLM-North movement led by Joseph Tuka on Amora station.
The statement added that the army succeeded in destroying several combat vehicles and seizing others that remained operational.
Military sources told Sudan Tribune that the attack on Amora, located northeast of Qeisan, aimed to cut supply lines to the border town of Qeisan near Ethiopia and subsequently capture the town.
The same sources explained that severing military supply routes between the 13th Brigade forces in Kurmuk and Qeisan would enable the “rebel” forces stationed inside Ethiopian territory to move in and seize control of Qeisan.
Sudan has accused neighboring Ethiopia, which borders the Blue Nile region, of providing logistical support to the rebel alliance operating in the area, which also shares borders with South Sudan.
Before the 2005 peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the SPLM led by John Garang, Kurmuk and Qeisan were battlegrounds for 22 years. In 1987, SPLA forces entered the two towns before government forces recaptured them a year later. The SPLA regained control in 1997 before the Sudanese army once again retook the areas.
The RSF and SPLM-North alliance captured the strategic border town of Kurmuk, near Ethiopia, in March of last year.
On Wednesday, the Sudanese army also repelled another attack by the RSF and SPLM-North on Al-Baraka station south of Kurmuk. A day earlier, the army announced that it had regained control of four areas in Qeisan locality, north of Kurmuk.
Since February, fighting between the Sudanese army and the SPLM-North/RSF alliance has intensified in the Kurmuk and Qeisan localities in the southern Blue Nile region.
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