The Conflict in Blue Nile

Along with fighting in South Kordofan and the occupation of Abyei, the Blue Nile conflict is a ‘frontline’ in post-CPA intra-Sudanese military conflict. Of the three, Blue Nile has received comparatively little attention, despite the state’s strategic significance. Three-quarters of Nile waters enter Sudan in Blue Nile and the state sits at the crossroads of Western Ethiopia, South Sudan, and the Northern Nile Valley. Since its eruption in September 2011, fighting in Blue Nile pits the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and its allied militias against the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). The forces that make up the SPLM-N are historically northern but maintain strong ties to their old comrades in South Sudan.

For a detailed update on the conflict as of August 2012, see the following report:

• The Conflict in Blue Nile (20 August 2012)