Eastern Front (Sudan)

Eastern Front
LeadersMusa Mohamed Ahmed (Chairman)
Group(s)SPLA
Beja Congress
Rashaida Free Lions
JEM
FAES
Active regionsEastern Sudan
Allies Eritrea
Opponents Sudan
Battles and warsSecond Sudanese Civil War

The Eastern Front (Arabic: الجبهة الشرقية, romanizedal-Jabhah al-Sharqīyah) was a coalition of rebel groups operating in eastern Sudan along the border with Eritrea, particularly the states of Red Sea and Kassala. The Eastern Front's Chairman is Musa Mohamed Ahmed. While the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was the primary member of the Eastern Front, the SPLA was obliged to leave by the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. Their place was taken in February 2004 after the merger of the larger Beja Congress with the smaller Rashaida Free Lions, two tribal based groups of the Beja and Rashaida people, respectively.[1] The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a rebel group from Darfur in the west, then joined.

Kassala, Al Qadarif, and the Red Sea states (in red), all of which border Eritrea (in light blue). The Red Sea is marked in blue