The International Crisis Group (ICG) released on 14 February 2013 a detailed report titled "Sudan's Spreading Conflict (I): War in South Kordofan." It points out that the insurgent Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which is based in the Nuba Mountains, is well armed and has an alliance with a Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Revolutionary Front.
ICG concludes that the conflict between the SPLM-N and the Sudan government forces have reached a strategic stalemate. The SPLM-N has as many as 30,000 soldiers while the number of government troops in South Kordofan is estimated at between 40,000 and 70,000. ICG states that "neither side is strong enough to win militarily."