The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at war with Sudan’s regular army since 2023. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced around 11 million and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Control over Sudan’s southeastern Blue Nile State, bordering both Ethiopia and South Sudan, is split between the army and a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, allies of the RSF who have mounted an offensive in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, the RSF said it and its allies had captured the state’s strategic town of Kurmuk and two other nearby areas “following fierce fighting”.

Abdelatty al-Faki, governor of Kurmuk province, accused Ethiopia of having a hand in the incidents.

“The forces that attacked Kurmuk set out from inside Ethiopian territory and are supported by Ethiopia,” he told AFP.

“We’re dealing with an… invasion.”

Faki, who spoke from the Blue Nile state capital Damazin, said that “to date, 433 families from Kurmuk have arrived in Damazin, while a certain number of people remain blocked” between the two areas.

He said other civilians had crossed into Ethiopia in search of safety.

It is not the first time army-aligned authorities have accused Ethiopia of serving as a rear base for the paramilitary forces.

This month, Sudan’s army said drone attacks had been launched “from inside Ethiopian territory”, in the first accusation of Ethiopian involvement in the war.

Ethiopia has separately denied accusations that it is harbouring RSF camps.

The RSF last year brought thousands of fighters into Ethiopia, an RSF source and an army source told AFP.

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