In the reference period covered by the previous EUAA COI Report Sudan – Security Situation (February 2025), the SPLM-N-Agar, a faction that emerged following a struggle for leadership between SPLM-N commanders Malik Agar and Abdelaziz Al-Hilu in 2017,1100 aligned its forces with the SAF1101 and started to move its troops from Blue Nile towards Al Jazirah.1102 The SPLM-N-Al-Hilu faction, which was not aligned with either conflict party1103 held territories in southern Blue Nile,1104 namely the New Funj area.1105 In August 2024, the RSF advanced from Sennar into Blue Nile, leading to clashes with the SAF before being pushed back into Sennar in September 2024.1106 Later in November 2024, the RSF reported to have made renewed advances in the state, claiming to have established their presence around 70 km from the state capital Damazin.1107
- 1100
STPT and SCRN, Blue Nile, its conflict dynamics, and the potential implications for the wider war in Sudan 2017– 2024, 24 March 2024, url, p. 2
- 1101
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, A/HRC/57/23, 7 November 2024, url, para. 26
- 1102
ACLED, Sudan: Escalating Conflict in Khartoum and Attacks on Civilians in al-Jazirah and South Kordofan, 15 March 2024, url
- 1103
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, A/HRC/57/23, 7 November 2024, url, para. 31
- 1104
ACLED, Artillery shelling and airstrikes surge in Sudan - September 2024, 16 September 2024, url
- 1105
Dabanga, Number of people dying from hunger rapidly growing in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, 3 September 2024, url
- 1106
ACLED, Artillery shelling and airstrikes surge in Sudan - September 2024, 16 September 2024, url
- 1107
Al Taghyeer, الدعم السريع يستعيد السيطرة على مناطق بولاية النيل الأزرق [RSF regain control of areas in Blue Nile state], 22 November 2024, url