SAF recaptures Malken in Blue Nile state as Sudan's eastern front intensifies
Sudanese Armed Forces took Malken on June 26 in a push along the Blue Nile, opening a new axis against RSF and allied SPLM-N forces as fighting in North Kordofan and Darfur continues
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Summary
Sudan's Sudanese Armed Forces recaptured Malken in Blue Nile state on June 26, the latest gain in a campaign to open an eastern axis against RSF and its allied Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North faction led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu. The SAF has used drone and air superiority on the Blue Nile front to compensate for infantry gaps. The advance comes as RSF simultaneously seized Furuawiya in North Darfur, where 563,000 civilians remain trapped around el-Obeid. Blue Nile borders South Sudan and Ethiopia, adding regional spillover risk.
Why it matters
Blue Nile state has shifted from a peripheral front to a strategic one: SAF holds the north and east while RSF controls Darfur, making the south-eastern corridor both a supply line and a diplomatic lever with Addis Ababa. Gains there complicate RSF logistics and add a second pressure axis beyond Khartoum.
What to watch
- Whether Ethiopia's government, which has its own tensions with Khartoum, allows SAF to use Sudanese territory abutting the Ethiopian border as a staging ground.
- RSF counter-attacks on the Blue Nile line or further advances in North Darfur to draw SAF back.
- UN OCHA access: any humanitarian corridor through Blue Nile remains blocked by active combat.