AFRICA/SUDAN - Nine thousand displaced due to bloody confrontations between factions

Wadaka (Agenzia Fides) - Hundreds of people were killed and wounded during bloody clashes between the two factions of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement of the North (SPLM-N), respectively led by Abdelaziz Adam El Hilu and Malik Agar in the Blue Nile State.
According to what a local source told Fides, the fighting has led to the displacement of about 9,000 people in the Wadaka area of El Kurmuk, near the border with South Sudan.
The two SPLM-N factions, through separate communiques, blamed each other for the incident. Activists and politicians have expressed concern over the continuous and violent internal disputes between the two parties that have caused killings on both sides. Activists and politicians demand the immediate cessation of hostilities and the protection of civilians.
The SPLM-N factions split up following a rift in the leadership that began in the Nuba Mountains, south of Kordofan, in March 2017, after the then vice president Abdelaziz El Hilu submitted his resignation.
El Hilu accused President Malik Agar and Secretary-General Yasir Arman of arbitrarily controlling the rebel movement, and not representing the movement in the peace talks mediated by the African Union, particularly with regard to the self-determination issue of the Nuba Mountains.
The regional political groups of the SPLM-N, the entire Nuba Mountains Liberation Council and a part of the Blue Nile Liberation Council have therefore appointed El Hilu as president of the SPLM-N. Various factions of the SPLM-N in the Blue Nile State support the original leadership.
Khartoum fights the SPLM-N in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, also known as the "Two Areas", since 2011. Both factions have declared the unilateral ceasefire in their conflict with the government. (RD/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 28/2/2018)

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