SPLM/A admits to loss of Raga

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on Monday admitted to the loss to government forces of the strategic town of Raga, Western Bahr al-Ghazal. In a statement, the rebel movement said its forces had made a "tactical withdrawal" from Raga on Sunday, and had now redeployed in the surrounding area with the aim of "flushing out the enemy once more". The statement reiterated its condemnation of recent government bombing raids on Raga and the nearby village of Mangayath. "It will be recalled that the National Islamic Front [now officially known as the National Congress] has been intensifying aerial bombardment of civil targets, particularly those in Raga and Mangayath," SPLM/A spokesman Samson Kwaje said in the statement. "The SPLM therefore conducted an orderly evacuation of the civil population and tactical withdrawal of its army to protect the civil population," he added. The SPLM/A seized control of Raga and the nearby town of Daym Zubayr during a major offensive in the region in early June. The Sudanese armed forces on Sunday said they had recaptured Raga, inflicting heavy losses on the SPLA in both men and equipment. Since late September, some 20,000 people have fled fighting in and around Raga, seeking refuge in Mangayath. The WFP on 7 October criticised Khartoum for allowing bomb attacks on Mangayath as emergency relief food was being distributed to internally displaced persons in the area.