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The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Tuesday that it and allied fighters had taken control of the Sudanese town of Kurmuk, near the border with Ethiopia, following what it described as “fierce fighting”.
“Elite troops from the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have succeeded in fully liberating the strategic town of Kurmuk,” the RSF said in a statement.
The group added that its fighters had also seized two neighbouring areas after sustained clashes that began the previous day.
On Tuesday morning, a representative of the army-aligned administration in Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile state, where Kurmuk is located, said the situation was deteriorating, noting that forces on the ground were struggling to maintain their positions.
The fighting erupted on Sunday around the small border town in south-eastern Sudan, which the army regards as strategically important due to its position along one of the limited routes into Ethiopia.
A faction of the SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu and aligned with the RSF, maintains a presence in southern Blue Nile, a narrow corridor extending between Ethiopia and South Sudan.
From this area, it is reported to sustain supply lines from both neighbouring countries, drawing on long-standing regional connections.
Ethiopia has denied separate claims that it is hosting RSF camps.
The conflict in Sudan, which began in 2023, has pitted the RSF against the national army, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the displacement of around 11 million people, and one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
