November 8, 2012:
South Sudan said its oil fields will begin producing by the end of November. South Sudan quit producing oil in January. The issue was the high transport costs imposed by Sudan. That issue has been resolved.
November 7, 2012: South Sudan said that its military forces are ready to pull back from the buffer zone (demilitarized zone) along its border with Sudan. This followed a meeting of the joint security committee in South Sudan’s capital, Juba. The committee organized to implement the September peace agreement and has military security teams from both Sudan and South Sudan. Sudan has reportedly tried to force South Sudan to discuss the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) rebel group which operates in Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states. South Sudan has refused to include the SPLM-N in joint security committee discussions. Sudan claims South Sudan supports the SPLM-N. South Sudan denies the accusation.
November 6, 2012: The Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North rebel group said that their forces in Sudan’s South Kordofan state hit a Sudanese Army headquarters complex in the state capital, Kudagli with mortar fire.
November 5, 2012: France accuses Sudan of failing to cooperate with UNAMID (the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur). France said that Sudanese police had prevented a UN observation team from investigating the November 2nd attack on the village of Sigili (North Darfur state) that left 13 civilians dead. France urged Sudan to cooperate with the forces of the joint peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to accomplish their mandate in the region. A Darfuri rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi faction, said that the pro-government militia force wanted to drive the civilians from the village and steal their property. This is a tactic that pro-Sudan government militias have used in the past, with the government’s presumed permission.
The SPLM-N accused the Sudanese government of executing 16 Nuba tribesmen in South Kordofan state because the victims were suspected of being SPLM-N supporters.
November 4, 2012: South Sudan expelled a UN human rights investigator. The government accused the investigator of publishing inaccurate and unethical reports. A UN human rights report issued in August 2012, accused South Sudan’s military forces of murder, kidnapping, and torture.
The SPLM-N claimed that a Sudanese Air Force plane bombed the village of Korongo (South Kordofan state, west of the capital, Kadugli) killing one civilian.
November 2, 2012: the SPLM-N claimed that it launched a major attack on Sudanese security forces occupying a position just northeast of Kadugli, capital of South Korodfan state. The SPLM-N claimed the ground attack and mortar barrage attacks killed 70 government soldiers. Seven rebels died and 17 were wounded in the battles. This was the most casualties the SPLM-N forces had suffered in South Kordofan since the insurgency began. The battle outside of Kadugli on October 31 was quite large, by South Kordofan insurgency standards. This one, if the claim is accurate, is even larger. Both the government and the rebels have a record for exaggerating (and exaggerating significantly). However, there is no question that the fighting in South Kordofan has intensified. In order to keep up this relatively high pace of operations the rebels have to be receiving supplies. The rebels, however, claim that they have seized stocks of government weapons and ammunition. The successful October 31 attack could have been the source of ammunition and weapons for the November 2 assault.
An unidentified militia force attacked the Darfur village of Sigli (North Darfur state). The attackers killed 13 villagers. The village is located 40 kilometers southeast of the state capital, El Fasher.
November 1, 2012: Sudan said it was preparing to deploy more soldiers to South Kordofan state. Sudan vowed to crush the SPLM-N insurgency and the Air Force would intensify its aerial bombing campaign in the region.
October 31, 2012: The SPLM-N claimed that its forces killed 30 Sudanese Army soldiers and wounded another 25 as it attacked an army position in the village of East El-Leri. The rebels destroyed the camp and seized numerous weapons. One rebel was killed and four were wounded in the attack.
October 29, 2012: A small Iranian naval task force (corvette and a fleet supply vessel from the anti-piracy patrol) has visited Sudan. It was sent to Sudan as a sign that Iran is interested in peace and security in Sudan’s region of the world. The task force arrived six days after a Sudanese arms factory in Khartoum (the Yarmouk factory) was destroyed by mysterious explosions. Sudan accused Israel of bombing the factory. Investigators have found evidence that the factory was hit by an air strike. Other sources claimed that four Israeli jets participated in the strike and that Sudanese air defense weapons suffered a jamming attack when the attack occurred. Israel has not commented on Sudan’ accusations, but the rumor mill says that the factory builds tactical rockets, which are then smuggled to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
October 25, 2012: Sudan said that it will protest in the UN what it claims was an Israeli air strike on Khartoum. The attack damaged a Sudanese arms factory.
October 24, 2012: The Sudanese government reported that the Yarmouk arms factory complex in Khartoum was rocked by a series of explosions late on the evening of October 23. Several independent sources reported large flashes and explosions around the complex, the types of flashes and explosions associated with an air strike.
October 23, 2012: The Sudanese Army said that artillery fire by SPLM-N rebels had killed two children in the capital of South Kordofan state, Kadugli. Eight to ten other civilians may have been wounded in the barrage. The SPLM-N said that its attacks on Kadugli were a response to Sudanese Army attacks on villages in South Kordofan. Rebel fire (likely from mortars) also struck a Sudanese Army position outside of Kadugli. The Sudanese Army has vowed to “cleanse” the rebels from the area around Kadugli.