IOM: 2,500 people displaced by clashes in Sudan’s Blue Nile state

About 2,500 people have been displaced from the town of Geissan in Sudan’s southeastern Blue Nile state following clashes there on Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

In a statement, the IOM said its field teams, as part of its Displacement Tracking Matrix, estimated that about 2,500 people, or 500 families, had fled Geissan due to the deteriorating security conditions.

It said most affected families had moved to other areas within Geissan, while others had crossed the border into Ethiopia.

The organisation said the situation in the area remained “tense and volatile”, adding that it was closely monitoring developments on the ground.

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Earlier on Tuesday, Geissan locality authorities said the Sudanese army had repelled an attack on the town by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

The RSF, however, said in a statement that it had taken control of Geissan and military positions there. The Sudanese army did not immediately comment.

On 10 July 2026, the Sudanese army said it had repelled an attack on the areas of Deim Saad and Yara in Geissan district.

The Sudanese Armed Forces control large parts of Blue Nile state, while the SPLM-N has been fighting the Sudanese government since 2011, demanding autonomy for the South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions.

The Sudanese army and the RSF have been at war since April 2023 over disagreements about the integration of the paramilitary force into the regular military. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of Sudanese people and displaced about 13 million, pushing the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

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