Reports from Sudan say President Omar al-Bashir has ordered an urgent new mobilisation of soldiers to the southeast of the country, where the rebel SPLA says it's captured the garrison town of Ulu.

The president called on young men to report to training camps, then on to areas of fighting, where he admitted there had been recent military developments.

Yesterday, the SPLA said they killed more than seventy government soldiers during the fight for Ulu, near the Ethiopian border.

They say they're now working towards Damazin, the town that supplies the capital with much of its power.