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Residents of Sudan’s South Kordofan State reported mobilisation by a large rebel force on Thursday, raising fear that internal conflict could spread in the country’s southern regions.
The rebel force, the SPLM-N, is led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, and is estimated to contain tens of thousands of men as well as heavy weaponry.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has announced the deaths of 54 Ugandan soldiers in an al-Shabaab attack on a base housing African Union peacekeepers in Somalia.
Museveni’s statement on Saturday comes a week after al-Shabaab fighters stormed the base in Bulamarer, 130 kilometres (80 miles) southwest of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Airstrikes and artillery fire shook much of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and its neighbouring cities on Tuesday as fighting between the country’s warring factions intensified sharply.
New battles between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) flared from dawn in north and south Khartoum, as well as in the adjacent cities of Omdurman and Bahri, as the army sought to defend its bases from its paramilitary rival.
Several countries have evacuated diplomats and citizens from Sudan’s capital as fierce fighting continues to rage in Khartoum.
The US and UK announced on Sunday they had flown diplomats out of the country.
Around 320 Sudanese soldiers have fled fighting in their country and crossed the border to surrender to the Chadian army, Chad’s defense minister announced Wednesday.
Elements of the Sudanese army, including 320 gendarmes, police and military personnel, have entered Chadian territory, where “all have been disarmed and confined,” General Daoud Yaya Brahim said while speaking at a press conference, local media reported.