Government makes gains in transition zone

Sudanese government forces have made military gains in a key strategic transition area between north and south Sudan, government and rebel sources said on Thursday. The Sudanese regular army based in the town of Damazin and the paramilitary People's Defence Forces had captured the town of Madal, Southern Blue Nile, on Monday inflicting "heavy casualties" on forces of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the area, the Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) reported. A statement from the SPLM/A confirmed that Madal, located some 90 km north of the Ethiopian border at Kurmuk, had been seized. Local sources told IRIN that government forces had launched a major offensive in the area seven days ago involving helicopter gunships and Antonov bombers, and was still ongoing. The region of Southern Blue Nile straddles the transition between north and south Sudan, and is hotly contested by the warring parties, both militarily and politically. While the SPLM/A says the region has taken up arms against the northern government and should therefore be considered as part of the south, Khartoum points out that it was included as part of the north when Sudan gained its independence in 1956, and should continue to be considered as such, regional analysts told IRIN. When government negotiators pulled out of peace talks with the SPLM/A earlier this month, they criticised the SPLM/A for continuing to dispute the borders between north and south, and included the ongoing dispute over Southern Blue Nile as a reason for the suspension. A framework deal - the Machakos protocol - agreed to in July does not deal with the issue of borders, leaving it to be discussed in future talks. The SPLM/A has recently accused Khartoum of intensifying offensives across the south, and simultaneously calling for a comprehensive ceasefire in Sudan's 19-year civil war. The SPLM/A "condemns the NIF [National Islamic Front] regime for escalating fighting all over the New Sudan without any provocation from the SPLA," the statement said.