The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have reportedly launched a large-scale offensive on Friday to retake the strategic border town of Kurmuk in the southeastern Blue Nile State, on the border with Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, following intense clashes with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), according to military sources cited by Anadolu.
Military sources, cited by the news outlet on condition of anonymity, said SAF forces and allied units mounted a heavy assault on RSF front-line positions on the outskirts of Kurmuk after hours of fighting, as part of an operation aimed at regaining control of the town, which has remained under the control of the RSF-SPLM-N alliance since March.
The latest offensive follows months of intensified military operations in Sudan’s Blue Nile region after the RSF and their allied militia, SPLM-N, captured Kurmuk in March this year, raising concerns over the conflict’s spillover into neighbouring Ethiopia.
In late April, Addis Standard reported that a drone strike attributed to the SAF killed at least eight civilians, including an aid worker with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and injured several others in Kumruk town, Kumruk Woreda of Ethiopia’s Assosa Zone in the Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, underscoring the growing cross-border security risks posed by Sudan’s more than three-year civil war.
On June 23, the SAF said it had captured the Al-Bar area in Geissan, another district near the Ethiopia-Sudan border, after launching an offensive targeting what it described as a key stronghold of the SPLM-N faction led by Joseph Touka.
The campaign was intended to clear rebel-held territory up to the international border with Ethiopia and pave the way for the recapture of Kurmuk.
Located near the Ethiopian border, Kurmuk is one of the largest towns in Blue Nile State after the state capital, Ad-Damazin, and is considered strategically important because it controls key supply routes, military communication lines, and overland access to both Ethiopia and South Sudan.
The SAF has recently reported regaining control of several areas in southeastern Blue Nile State as fighting has intensified along the border.
Sudanese authorities have previously accused Ethiopia of providing logistical support to the RSF-SPLM-N alliance operating in Blue Nile State, allegations that Addis Ababa has denied.
While reports say the Sudanese army controls much of Blue Nile State, the SPLM-N has been engaged in an armed insurgency against the Sudanese government since 2011, seeking greater autonomy for South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
Sudan has been engulfed in the ongoing civil war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the SAF and the RSF. The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced an estimated 13 million, making it one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
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