Military officials said the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) entered Kadugli, the regional capital of South Kordofan which has emerged a new epicentre in the fighting, on Tuesday, The Telegraph reported.
“Congratulations to our people in Kadugli on the arrival of the army,” said Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s army chief.
Footage shared on social media showed locals lining the roads as soldiers waving guns and punching the air rode past on military vehicles.
The famine-wracked city, where tens of thousands of people are trapped, has been besieged by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for much of the three-year civil war.
The lifting of the siege comes as the army and various rebel groups battle for control over key roads before seasonal rains are expected to arrive in May.
The rains will make moving troops and equipment in the region’s rugged mountainous terrain all but impossible, meaning that the next few months are likely to prove decisive.
“It is the single most important moment for determining the future of the war,” said Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which has been tracking troop movements by satellite.
“The fight here is not a traditional siege like El Fasher, or like what we’ve seen in Homs or Aleppo. It’s about gaining space to control road junctions and preventing manoeuvre attacks with vehicles.”
MNA
Your Comment