However, talks subsequently collapsed after the SPLM-N accused SAF of seeking air bridges for its beleaguered garrison towns in Kadugli and Babanusa.
Violence in both states is likely to be increasingly untethered from national-level dynamics, mirroring tendencies elsewhere in Sudan.
Both states will face severe difficulties due to a collapsed economy, inflation, skyrocketing food prices and a poor harvest.
Conflict-induced starvation in South Kordofan will increase pressure on the UN to deliver cross-border aid without SAF’s acquiescence.
The RSF is already struggling with command-and-control problems in Darfur; ethnic clashes in South Kordofan may add to these difficulties.
Ethnic dynamics in the Two Areas make it more unlikely national peace talks will produce a ceasefire that is respected on the ground.
