SPLM-N Recaptures Strategic Area in Sudan’s South Kordofan

4 December 2025

SPLM-N commanders greets troops in the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, file photo

December 4, 2025 (SOUTH KORDOFAN) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said on Thursday its forces had recaptured a key garrison in South Kordofan state, reversing a gain made by the Sudanese army earlier in the week.

The escalation comes as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Thursday of intensifying violence across the Kordofan region involving the army, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the SPLM-N.

The SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, said in a statement that its fighters had “regained control of the Mabsouta garrison” in New Tagali county after the army withdrew. The group vowed to continue its advance to “liberate all garrisons and military areas in the region.”

The army had seized Mabsouta on Tuesday. The town is considered a strategic location near Al-Murib, an SPLM-N stronghold in the Al-Abbasiya Tagali locality.

On Monday, the rebel group also reported recapturing Qardud Nyama, an area north of Al-Murib that had briefly fallen to the army.

The SPLM-N, which has fought government forces in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since 2011, expanded its involvement in Sudan’s wider conflict in June 2023 by seizing small army garrisons.

In a significant shift, the group entered a political and military alliance in February with the RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023.