South Kordofan residents flee as new front in Sudan war develops

El Safi Mahdi, Sudanese music professor sits next to his friend playing keyboard, as he waits to travel to his Sudanese musician wife Sohair Saddig Ali, who fled the fighting following the crisis, at the theatre of Novelists and Artists Union in the city of Port Sudan, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Ibrahim Mohammed Ishak

DUBAI (Reuters) - Residents of the city of Kadugli in southwest Sudan began fleeing the city on Thursday as tensions escalated between the army and a powerful rebel group, threatening to open another area of conflict in the country's ongoing war, witnesses said.

Mobilisation around Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan state, comes after nearly 10 weeks of fighting focused in the capital, Khartoum, between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).