---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 11:10 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: Civilians Bear Brunt of SPLA's Campaign Against Rebels To: Group <[email protected]>
Apart from the fact that human rights abuses are being committed, there is a real danger that heavy-handed tactics by SPLA will force more people into the rebel camp. As the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Malakal says, the fighting can largely be blamed "on politicians who engineer the conflict to jockey for better positions in the new government", and one hopes that he is right in saying, "when the full independence is here, all these conflicts will subside". However if current SPLA tactics continue, they may cause more resentment and create a new cycle of violent revenge. John BEGIN Southern Sudanese Civilians Bear Brunt of Army's Campaign Against Rebels By Matt Richmond - Apr 13, 2011 8:47 AM GMT+0300 Bloomberg Southern Sudanese civilians are bearing the brunt of a campaign by the regional army against an ethnic Shilluk militia leader in Upper Nile state, according to local residents, a Human Rights Watch researcher and United Nations officials. Clashes in villages around the state capital, Malakal, intensified last month between fighters loyal to Johnson Oliny and the army of Southern Sudan, in one of a series of conflicts that have overshadowed the preparations of the oil-rich region to become an independent nation in July. Soldiers fired at civilians in the village of Duur as they tried to flee and then returned to loot and burn their homes, said Jehanne Henry, a Sudan researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch, citing eyewitness accounts. A UN report found that 62 people, including women, were killed, more than 70 were injured, and 7,265 displaced in the fighting, Giovanni Bosco, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Southern Sudan, said in a phone interview yesterday. “If there were civilians there, it’s only ones that were with Oliny,” Southern Sudan’s army spokesman, Philip Aguer, said by phone from Juba, the regional capital. The army killed as many as 50 of the militia’s new recruits on March 6, the Upper Nile state minister of information, Peter Lam Both, said in an April 7 interview. Land Disputes Some Shilluk leaders say the southern government, which is dominated by the region’s largest tribe, the Dinka, is using the army to occupy Shilluk land. The government acknowledges that Dinka have occupied Shilluk land and says the practice is legal. “Of course some of the Dinka moved into Shilluk land. This is a federal government, any citizen can live in any state,” Both said. Residents of several small villages were driven from their homes during the clash in Duur and its aftermath, Henry said. Less than a week later, on March 12, Oliny’s militia attacked Malakal, in what Both described as an attempt by the insurgents to establish a rebel base in the city. “Based on reports we are hearing from the residents of Malakal, the authorities appear to have targeted members of the Shilluk community, particularly youth suspected of being militia supporters in the aftermath of the attack on the town,” Henry said an April 10 interview. She cited families from Duur as saying that five of the corpses were of young men who were tied up and shot. Al-Bashir Involvement Southern Sudan’s ruling party said last month it has documents to prove Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir’s government supplied weapons to militias in the region. The authorities in Khartoum deny the accusation. The Southern Sudan government accuses Oliny’s military of fighting for Lam Akol, a former foreign minister in Bashir’s government who now leads the SPLM-DC, a splinter group of the region’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. Akol denies the charge. “The SPLM-DC doesn’t need to agitate to cause this stuff. It is the practical reality on the ground,” Akol said on April 9 by phone from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. “What kills people in this world? Is it not issues over land?” Fighting in Southern Sudan has intensified with “at least 16 incidents of violence” since almost 99 percent of Southern Sudanese voters chose in a Jan. 9 referendum to secede from the rest of Sudan, Mohamed Chande Othman, the UN Human Rights Council’s independent expert on Sudan, said last month. Oil Exporter Southern Sudan will assume control of about three-quarters of Sudan’s current oil production of 490,000 barrels a day, pumped mainly by China National Petroleum Corp., Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Sudan had 5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of January 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Jok Madut Jok, undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture in Juba and a professor of African studies at the Loyola Marymount University in California, said the region’s ability to reduce ethnic conflicts will depend on the authorities’ willingness to keep the armed forces, known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, out of local disputes. “If the SPLA becomes a professional military, then it will have nothing to do but protect the country from external threats,” he said by phone yesterday from Rumbek, the capital of Lakes state. “But if the SPLA continues to be used to repress people, then people will continue to fight the army.” Another militia leader in the area, George Athor, a former deputy chief of staff in the southern army, has said he is in alliance with Oliny. Five other rebel militias are scattered around Malakal. Tension in Malakal Tensions remain high in Malakal a month after the fighting. On the road from the airport, a ruling party billboard sign has been defaced, with the head shot of Southern Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, ripped out. A variety of security forces, including police, army and prison service officers, patrol the streets. Peter Makuac Nyak, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Malakal, blames the fighting on politicians who engineer the conflict to jockey for better positions in the new government. “In a few days, when the full independence is here, all these conflicts will subside,” Nyak said in an interview at his church. To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Richmond in Malakal, Sudan via Johannesburg at 1999 or [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at [email protected]. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-13/southern-sudanese-civilians-bear-brunt-of-army-s-campaign-against-rebels.html END ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor Sudan Ecumenical Forum [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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