Golo, December 15 (Darfur24)
Military sources said on Sunday that the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed Nour, has started assembling Sudanese army personnel in areas under its control in Jebel Marra, ahead of plans to transfer them to Port Sudan through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The sources said several soldiers withdrew from the 6th Infantry Division in El Fasher and other military sites and moved into SLM-controlled areas.
Three soldiers told Darfur24 that the movement’s intelligence units in Golo have recently been collecting soldiers who fled El Fasher and other parts of Darfur and transferring them to a camp in Manda town, in the Fanga area of Jebel Marra.
One soldier said he was taken to the camp along with 14 others, adding that an agreement exists between the army leadership and the SLM to facilitate their transfer to Port Sudan via the Red Cross, after the army pays each soldier 15 million Sudanese pounds.
He said the soldiers agreed to be transferred to Port Sudan, which the army has designated as the temporary seat of government since the outbreak of the war.
Another soldier said the camp hosts soldiers and officers from various military units in Darfur, noting that he remained there for six days before leaving after deciding not to rejoin the army.
The Rapid Support Forces seized control of the 6th Infantry Division in El Fasher on October 26, the last major Sudanese army stronghold in Darfur.