Sudan army claims it has captured rebel army base; UN says refugee numbers to rise to 100,000

A Sudan military spokesman claimed Sudan's armed forces had captured a strategic rebel base in South Kordofan. A spokesman for the SPLA-N however, denied the claim.

Army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad claimed Sudanese forces captured the base in the Lake Jau area on Saturday afternoon; his SPLA-N counterpart Qamar Dalam claimed this to be false. It is impossible to independently verify either claim as the Khartoum based government has banned journalists from South Kordofan.

Earlier in the week, the SPLA-N leader Yasser Arman accused Khartoum of engaging in a heavy military campaign against civilians in South Kordofan. The UN refugee agency said last week that approximately 80,000 people have fled conflict in the region so far this year and they expect this figure to rise to 100,000 by the end of the year.