---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2011 10:48:02 +0300 Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Heavy fighting in South Kordofan To: Group <[email protected]>
1. Sudan army confirms heavy clashes in South Kordofan October 31, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government on Monday acknowledged that deadly fighting broke out between its army and rebels from the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) in the border state of South Kordofan. Over the last few days the SPLM-N has issued statements claiming that its forces have made significant advances in the state and closing on the capital town of Kadugli. But South Kordofan governor speaking to reporters at a press conference over the phone denied rebel claims saying that Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) along with units from the Popular Defense Forces (PDF) repulsed SPLM-N attacks and inflicted heavy losses on them. "Several hundred members of the movement were killed this day in an assault on the city of Teludi (east of state capital) that was repelled by the armed forces," Governor Ahmed Haroun said. Haroun said the attack shows the “desperation” of SPLM-N and arbitrary decision making within the rebel movement. He added that move on Teludi aimed at looting citizens’ properties and particularly food products to meet their needs. The governor also accused SPLM-N of seeking to displace Teludi’s residents. He reiterated Khartoum accusations that the rebel movement is getting support from the Republic of South Sudan (RoSS) adding that the SPLM-N units which launched the attack this morning on Teludi came from the Unity state in Sudan’s southern neighbor. Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that battles started in the oil-rich state on Sunday with SAF launching aerial attacks on SPLM-N units which controlled areas as close as 30 kilometers from Kadugli. The SAF spokesperson Colonel al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad, said Teludi‘s assault was carried out by 700 rebel fighters and 12 officers. "The armed forces waited for the invaders to arrive on three fronts with equipment and on several vehicles, but in an hour the armed forces and popular defense forces beat back the attack, causing heavy losses," the military spokesperson said. On Saturday SPLM-N spokesperson Arnu Netglu said that their forces took over Khour al-Afan which is 5 km south of Kadugli and seized one tank among other weapons. He also claimed that SAF units retreated back to Kadugli after suffering losses of 27 soldiers. But SAF spokesperson described this as “illogical” due to the distance between SPLM-N positions and Kadugli. He also said that the army has been monitoring recruitment efforts by SPLM-N in South Sudan’s Unity state. “The role of South Sudan in South Kordofan’s war is not new through providing training and using SPLM [southern] cadres in these activities" Colonel Sa’ad said. South Kordofan has been the scene of fighting since last June which followed gubernatorial elections in which incumbent governor Haroun was declared winner in his race against his SPLM candidate Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu who was the deputy governor. The fighting, apparently triggered by the army’s insistence on disarming the opposition SPLM-N, spilled into nearby Blue Nile state as the government moved to assert its authority within its new borders. Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir rejected a framework agreement brokered by the African Union signed by his aide and insisted that SAF crush the rebellion and bring al-Hilu to justice. Khartoum is engaged in military operations against rebel movements in three separate regions along Sudan’s volatile border with the south, which gained full independence on July 9. It has accused groups in those territories of trying to spread chaos along the border, while rights groups have accused Khartoum of trying to stamp out remaining opposition on its side of the border. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-army-confirms-heavy-clashes,40594 END1 2. Sudan, rebels say fighting in southern oil state Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:47pm GMT * Both sides claim gains in Monday's fighting * Sudan says South Sudan has backed rebels, south denies * Volatile border region home to thousands who fought with south KHARTOUM/JUBA, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Sudanese rebels and government forces clashed in an oil-producing border state on Monday, Sudan's government and the insurgent group said, a sign of escalating fighting that has raised tensions with the newly-independent south. Fighting broke out between Sudan's army and rebels in the South Kordofan state in June, just weeks before the south split off into a separate country. Both sides have blamed the other for starting the clashes. Both Sudan's army and the rebels claimed gains over the other during Monday's fighting in the town of Taludi. Ahmed Haroun, South Kordofan's governor, said Sudan's military repulsed the attack, and accused South Sudan of backing the rebels. "Hundreds of soldiers from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (in South Kordofan) were killed during an attack on the city of Taludi this morning," he told reporters at a news conference by telephone. A spokesman for the SPLA in South Kordofan, Qamar Dalman, said the fighting was not over and disputed the government's figures, saying just five SPLA fighters had been killed. He claimed rebels controlled up to half of Taludi and had killed 273 government soldiers. Neither of the reports could be independently verified. Many of the rebels fought against Khartoum as part of the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during a decades-long civil war, but were left in the north when South Sudan became independent in July. South Kordofan and Blue Nile -- both states on Sudan's side of the border -- and the disputed Abyei area saw heavy fighting during the civil war, and fresh clashes have broken out in all three this year. Sudan has accused groups in those territories of trying to spread chaos along the border, while rights groups have accused Khartoum of trying to stamp out remaining opposition on its side of the border. FIGHTING EXACERBATES TENSIONS Fighting along the border has exacerbated tensions between Khartoum and its former civil war foes in South Sudan, who are still negotiating over how to manage the formerly integrated oil industry and other sensitive issues. Each side has accused the other of backing rebels in its territory. A spokesman for Sudan's army repeated claims that the South Kordofan rebels received training in South Sudan, an accusation South Sudan has previously denied. On the other side, South Sudan's army spokesman Philip Aguer said he had evidence linking authorities in Khartoum to the rebel South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), which attacked the oil-producing Unity state's Mayom town on Saturday. Sudan's information ministry official Rabie Abdelaty dismissed the charges. "I don't think this accusation has any degree of correctness," he said. The rebel assault in Unity state killed 11 civilians and 13 government soldiers, Aguer said, adding the South's army killed 32 insurgents and captured three. The SSLA has advised the United Nations and aid agencies to evacuate both Unity and Warrup state in the next few days, raising fears of further violence. South Sudan seceded in July after voting to separate in a January referendum promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended what was one of Africa's longest-running civil wars. (Reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Matthew Jones) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL5E7LV44T20111031?sp=true END2 3. From Sudan, a Glimpse of a New Conflict By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, JAMES ESTRIN and DAVID FURST NYT October 31, 2011, 5:00 AM With shouts of “Freedom!” the people of South Sudan celebrated their newly won independence on July 9. After a decades-long civil war, the rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army who had battled the government of Omar Hassan al-Bashir could savor their success. Many of the brutal tactics they faced in this civil war were also used in Darfur by Mr. Bashir’s government. He now faces genocide charges in the International Criminal Court for the Darfur massacres. But even though the south has now split off, the war is hardly over in Sudan. A new conflict has erupted in the Nuba Mountains and in Blue Nile State, where tens of thousands of southern-aligned rebels are now battling the Arab-dominated government of Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. Soldiers from these two areas fought alongside southern rebels for years, but the areas are just north of the border and therefore geographically part of Sudan, not South Sudan. The people there have many of the same grievances that drove the south to fight for independence, like being discriminated against because they are not ethnically Arab. People in the Nuba Mountains and in Blue Nile complain that their areas have been neglected and marginalized for years, with few schools, roads or infrastructure – complaints the Darfur rebels have made as well. Over the past several months, the Sudanese government has been relentlessly bombing the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile State and demanding that the rebels in these areas disarm. In the Nuba Mountains, thousands of civilians have been hiding out in rocky caves to save themselves from the bombings. Despite the Sudanese government’s attempts to close the area to humanitarian relief workers and journalists, the photographer Pete Muller was able to visit Blue Nile two weeks ago after a period of heavy bombing. He has provided a rare glimpse of the rebels who are now fighting to overthrow the government in Khartoum. “It can be an explosive situation when new borders are carved and minority groups find themselves on the side of the border that’s not comfortable for them,” said Mr. Muller, who has been covering South Sudan for two years. “This has a lot of destabilizing potential for both north and South Sudan.” Mr. Muller, 29, found that the civilian population had almost entirely fled the Blue Nile area in face of attacks from the forces of the Bashir government. Many fled into Ethiopia and others crossed the border into South Sudan. “There was a lot of concern over food shortages and the continuing bombing campaigns,” Mr. Muller said. “The hospitals are running out of supplies and they can’t replenish those stocks.” The rebels in the Nuba Mountains and in Blue Nile have now formed their own political party, called the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North. Many Sudan experts believe that South Sudan is helping arm and support these rebels and that this conflict could proliferate into a full-fledged war between the two Sudans, which both have a number of pressing internal problems. While the rebel forces in the south and those in Blue Nile and Nuba were united before the July 9 separation of Sudan, they now have distinct and separate military and political groups. Mr. Muller said it was clear that there were still strong connections between the two. Mr. Muller wrote about witnessing the government’s bombing of the experienced rebel soldiers. For no apparent reason, the rebels begin to scatter. With reckless abandon, they crash their Hilux pickups into elephant grass along the side of the road. Young fighters rush to camouflage the trucks with branches before taking cover in the bush. “There will be bombing,” yells Stephen Ahmed, a rebel commander, as he moves toward the relative safety of a low-lying riverbed. As a persistent droning fills the air, Stephen’s eyes, and the eyes of his men, remain fixed on the sky, hoping to spot the government’s high-altitude bombers. Soon, the roar of their payload rings out from the adjacent fields. My hands tremble with surges of adrenaline. Next to me, calloused and unfazed, a young rebel removes his sandals and washes his feet in the low waters of the river. http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/from-sudan-a-glimpse-of-a-new-conflict/?hp END3 4. Sudanese Refugees in South Sudan Face Air Attack Threat, UN Says By Jared Ferrie Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- More than 16,000 refugees in South Sudan’s oil-rich Unity state are in danger of aerial bombardment after fleeing fighting across the border from Sudan, the United Nations said. At least 1,000 people arrived in Unity state in the past week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today in a report. “These individuals remain in an insecure location at the border with Sudan which is close to areas where regular aerial bombardments have taken place,” OCHA said. The refugees are fleeing Sudan’s South Kordofan state where fighting between the government and rebels has displaced or “severely affected” about 200,000 people, according to the UN. New York-based Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International accused Khartoum in August of bombing civilian areas. Sudanese aircraft bombed the town of Jaw in Unity state on Oct. 5, killing three people and injuring 14, Unity state Deputy Governor William Daud Riek in an Oct. 25 phone interview from Bentiu, the state capital. Sudanese army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khaled denied the claim. Zach Vertin, an analyst with Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), said the violence in border areas such as Unity state may destabilize South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan on July 9. “Continued military confrontation in these critical regions not only stifles essential cross-border movement and trade but risks sparking greater conflict,” he said in an e- mailed response to questions from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. END4 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [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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