Sudan army says RSF advance on key town bordering Ethiopia

What the report says

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and allied fighters have moved into Kurmuk, a town in Blue Nile state near the border with Ethiopia, according to military and government sources cited by Al Jazeera. The report says the army began pulling back as the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North entered the area on Thursday, while the RSF claimed it had inflicted heavy losses, seized weapons and ammunition, and forced a withdrawal.

Local officials in Kurmuk said the town had faced intensive attacks for three days, including drone strikes and artillery fire. They said the army was still responding and trying to protect residents and public institutions. Al Jazeera noted that Kurmuk sits on an important cross-border route connecting Ethiopia to Blue Nile and the wider Nile Valley, making it strategically significant.

The article also says the RSF had previously captured Kurmuk in March before the Sudanese army retook it last month, underscoring how frontline control has shifted repeatedly in Sudan’s war. The conflict began in April 2023 between the army and the RSF over the future integration of the paramilitary force into the national military.

Al Jazeera separately reported fighting in North Kordofan, where the army said it repelled an RSF assault on Jabra al-Sheikh, a transport hub whose control could affect nearby cities. The broader war has driven mass displacement and a severe humanitarian crisis, according to UN and aid estimates cited in the report.