SPLM-N denies clashes with defectors in South Kordofan

May 25, 2022  (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, denied alleged fighting with dissident fighters in Kauda, the group’s headquarters in South Kordofan state.

Media outlets reported that clashes in Kauda between forces loyal to the SPLM-N leader and defectors, and that al-Hilu had been transported for treatment in Juba after severe injury.

SPLM-N Youth and Student Secretary, Adel Chaloka, denied the occurrence of any tensions in the rebel-held area.

Chaloka who was speaking from Kauda stressed that the situation was stable.

He accused “parties” of spreading rumours to stir up strife in the SPLM-N’s areas in order to undermine the efforts of the Movement to reach just peace and genuine democratic transition.

Talks between the government and the rebel group are stalled over the meaning of a secular state as the two negotiating teams diverge over some points.

Also, the SPLM-N voiced its support for a civilian-led government and rejected the military coup of October 2021.

Reacting to the rumours, the SPLM-N leading member, Mohamed Youssif Al-Mustafa, dismissed the alleged tensions in Kauda.

“All that is being rumoured is fabricated by the enemies of the victories of the New Sudan vision and the expansion of the movement’s political and moral influence,” al Mustafa told the Sudan Tribune.

“I spoke on the phone tonight with a number of comrades in Kauda, and they all laughed at the rumour,” he said, adding he also spoke with the group Secretary-General Ammar Amon in Juba who also dismissed the false news.

The SPLM-N al-Hilu and the Sudan Liberation Movement have recently agreed with the Sudanese Communist Party to form a political alliance to topple the military rule in Khartoum.

The two non-signatory groups have issued unilateral cessation of hostility since the fall of the al-Bashir regime in 2019.

(ST)