Satellite photographs have revealed the deployment of more Sudanese troops and equipment into the Nuba Mountains region in preparation for an offensive against the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North.

Sudan’s defense minister, Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein, announced in parliament on Monday the start of a summer campaign in the Nuba Mountains. He stated that the war in Darfur has subsided, suggesting that more troops could be shifted into South Kordofan.

Army troops as well as allied militia from Darfur have been deployed in force to the Kauda Valley of the Nuba Mountains region, according to satellite imagery analysis and local reports.

Recent satellite images of the troops were published on Tuesday by the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), a partnership between commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe and the Enough Project, which is associated with US activists John Prendergast and actor George Clooney.

The images show “a significant mobilization of Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) around Rashad, Delaba, and Umm Abdallah in the Nuba Mountains,” stated the Enough Project in a brief report.

“The SAF mobilization, which includes the movement of heavy weaponry into the area, appears to be in preparation for an assault on Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) bases in the Kauda Valley,” added the project report.

Enough Project also stated that the imagery confirms the presence of a Chinese-manufactured WS-01 multiple rocket launcher in Delaba area. This weapon launches huge rockets that reportedly have a range of between 80 and 180 kilometers.

Janjaweed militias

Multiple sources are reporting that government militia from Darfur are being deployed into South Kordofan to assist the army in its offensive.  

Sudan’s director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Mohamad El Atta, said publically last Friday that Khartoum has dispatched extra Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to South Kordofan to fight the SPLM-N rebels.

RSF is the formal term given to the Janjaweed as per their integration under the command of the NISS. The group is most active in North Darfur.

In its latest report, the Enough Project warned, "The mobilization of the Sudan Armed Forces in the Kauda Valley in the Nuba Mountains is of immediate concern given the presence of heavy weaponry and Rapid Support Forces, reconstituted Janjaweed militias, in the area.”

The deployment of the RSF troops prompted a reaction from the SPLA-N, which controls much of the Nuba Mountains. The movement’s commander Abdel Aziz El Hilu issued a statement accusing the government of mobilizing ‘tribal militias’ against the region.

"The government will cover up these attacks, describing them as tribal clashes," he predicted.

The commander claimed that a force of RSF was stationed in El Fayd village in Rashad district in the Nuba Mountains under the command of Brig. Gen. Abdel-Samad Babiker, Lt. Col. Mohamed El Fatih Ahmed, and Maj. Gen. Mohamed El Rabie.

Photo: A motorized infantry battalion immediately east of Umm Abdallah, South Kordofan, 13 April 2014. Gun-mounted pickup trucks (‘technicals’), tanks and cargo trucks are visible.

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More images of SAF troop movements in South Kordofan (15 Apr.)