๐งต#SudanUpdate: Sudanese Mineral Resources Co. chief Mubarek Ardol, flanked by bodyguards, flew in a white UN plane from Kadugli, capital of Sudan's South Kordofan State to Wau, South Sudan at approximately 1:00pm on May 2, at the invitation of Juba and with the agreement of SAF.
Ardol, an ex-spokesman for Malik Agar's faction of SPLM-N rebels who became head of SMRC in April 2020, had flown to Kadugli on April 14 -- the night before Sudan erupted in conflict between two warlords, Gen. Burhan of SAF and his deputy Hemedti of the RSF.
Ardol, wearing a suit and flanked by four bodyguards in civilian clothes, met with local officials, including Mousa Gaber Mahmoud, South Kordofan's acting provincial governor. He also met with Russian officials from the Wagner Group, and Wagner subsidiaries M-Invest
and Al-Solag (a Sudanese front company for Meroe Gold, the US-sanctioned Russian mining business) who are mining gold in the eastern corridor of Southern Kordofan.
Ardol has been advocating (with Sudan's Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim and SLA leader Minni Minawi) for the inclusion of NCP in negotiations about forming a new government. Ardol has a close relationship with Sudan's Minister of Mining, who is part of Minnawi's faction.
On May 2, at approximately 2:00 a.m., a SAF convoy of army trucks arrived at a military hospital in Kadugli, carrying four dead soldiers and hundreds of wounded fighters.
Ardol went stealthily to the Kadugli airport on May 2, accompanied by two SAF colonels in uniform and four bodyguards. He kept a low profile in the VIP lounge. Ardol, accompanied by two bodyguards, departed Kadugli in a white UN plane at approximately 1:00 pm, headed to Wau.
@MubarakArdol, This you?
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