---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sat, Feb 4, 2012 at 11:17 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Continued Aerial Bombardment in Nuba Mountains To: Group <[email protected]>
1. Continued Aerial Bombardment and the Evacuation of the Chinese Workers Dear All, Please find attached [and below] a statement concerning the situation in the South Kordofan / Nuba Mountains and the Chinese worker evacuation. Thanks Anwar Elhaj SPLMN Representative to the US The NCP Air Force bombards and kills Civilians in the Nuba Mountains While the committee established by the SPLMN leadership to manage the logistics and facilitate the release of the 29 Chinese workers was engaged in contacts with the Chinese Government and other parties to facilitate the evacuation of the Chinese workers from South Kordofan / Nuba Mountains and ensure their return to their home country, the NCP Government intensified its Antonov aerial bombardments deliberately to obstruct and delay the evacuation process. - On February 1st, 2012, the Antonov dropped eight bombs on Haiban School of Theology, crating a state of panic among the people. - On February 2nd, 2012, twelve bombs were dropped at the Buram town, causing the death of one civilian and the injury of two other. - On February 2nd, 2012, eight bombs were dropped on Kau Nyaro area causing the death of Mamour Khiralla, 85 years old civilian and the burning of one house. The SPLMN reiterate its warning to the NCP regime of the grave consequences of its continued indiscriminate aerial bombardments and the mobilization of its forces and militias deliberately to obstruct, undermine and delay the evacuation process of the Chinese workers and their return to their home land. Arnu N. Loddi Spokesperson of the SPLMN 02/02/2012 END1 2. Sudan bombs US-funded Bible school, US condemns February 03, 2012 | Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Sudan’s military bombed a Bible school built by a U.S. Christian aid group, prompting students and teachers at the school to run for their lives in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations condemned the attack. Pictures obtained by The Associated Press on Friday showed that two stone school buildings were demolished in the attack. No one was hurt or killed despite the fact school was in session. Ryan Boyette, a former aid worker who lives in Sudan and is now leading a team of 15 citizen journalists, spoke to a teacher at the site of Wednesday’s attack in the Nuba Mountains. The teacher, Zachariah Boulus, told Boyette that he couldn’t find his wife and children after the attack because everyone ran into the mountains for safety. http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-03/news/31021956_1_aid-group-bible-school-nuba-mountains END2 3. Sudan Condemns Allegations of Civilian Attacks By Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan Published: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 - 2:32 pm WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2012 -- WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sudan categorically rejects the allegation in the statement issued by the White House and Susan Rice that a children's school was bombed by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). The Sudan Air force has no activities in the alleged area. These are simply baseless accusations fabricated by American activist groups who do not have any presence in that area. They're only propagating the false claims of the rebels and other activists who also previously manufactured lies regarding presence of mass graves. Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) is working jointly with the World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) assess the Humanitarian situation which they have yet to issue a report for. Therefore any claims regarding the Humanitarian crisis before the release of an official statement, are baseless and purely speculative. Sudan continues to stress that the source of the problem must be addressed in order to achieve a lasting solution. The government reaffirms its commitment to the protection of the civilians and calls on members of the international community to cease making unfounded allegations that only further embolden the rebels. The SAF only target militaristic activities of the rebels who have now started kidnapping foreigners and disrupting infrastructural development efforts in the area and is capable of differentiating them from civilians. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/03/4237590/sudan-condemns-allegations-of.html END3 4. Karti warns US against aid in war zones, threatens “security cards” against South Sudan February 3, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign minister, Ali Karti, has challenged the United States to carry out unilateral delivery of aid in his country’s war-hit states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, warning that Khartoum will not allow food to reach the rebels. Sudan has been facing down increased pressure from international quarters, particularly the United States and the United Nations, to allow international aid groups to access South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where the country’s army has been fighting rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLMN) since last year. It was reported last month that the US is considering unilateral intervention to deliver aid in SPLMN controlled areas, where food insecurity and malnutrition have reached "alarming" levels, according to the UN’s top humanitarian official, Valery Amos. Sudan’s foreign minister Ali Karti, speaking in an interview with Sudan state radio on Friday, warned that his country would not allow any humanitarian intervention without government consent, casting doubts on Washington’s motives and accusing it of seeking to feed the rebels. According to Sudan’s top diplomat, the true intention behind calls for humanitarian intervention in the two states is to deliver aid to the rebels. He further accused Washington of falling under the sway of lobby groups and said he had challenged a senior US diplomat to go ahead. “We will not allow food to reach the rebels and those talking about forcible intervention are US lobby groups,” Karti told the radio. He further revealed that he met the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Joseph Burns, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and told him: “We will see if you can bring in food by force, and we will not allow food to be brought to the rebels.” Karti’s remarks come few weeks after Khartoum appeared to have diluted its stance regarding the presence of aid groups in the two states. Sudan announced in late January that aid groups already existing in South Kordofan and Blue Nile will be allowed to work on a set of conditions including restrictions on movement of their staff, and that the distribution of their aid will be handled by local organizations. The violence in South Kordofan and Blue Nile has already forced about 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan, the United Nations estimates. Locals have faced air raids and sporadic ground fighting, according to human rights groups and refugees. The Sudanese minister grew more scathing as he derided the US as a weak state whose politics is influenced by activists. “It is laughable that [US] politicians are influenced by activists and organizations,” he said. He went on to claim that the former US President Gorge Bush had phoned Sudan’s President Omerb Al-Bashir and stated that we [Americans] “let you down when you signed the [2005 Comprehensive] Peace Agreement [with South Sudan] and we did not keep our promise to remove Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and lift economic sanction.” Sudanese officials don’t hide their frustration with what they see as Washington’s failure to deliver on its promises, namely removal of Sudan’s name from the terrorism blacklist and lifting of economic sanctions which have been imposed on Khartoum since 1997. Last year Washington exempted South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in line with the CPA in July last year, from the economic sanctions imposed on Khartoum, and later said that the new state is allowed to receive US weapons. Karti threatens to use “security cards” against South Sudan Turning to Sudan’s frayed relations with South Sudan, Karti warned that Khartoum could easily destabilize the new state if it wanted to. “If we just think about it, the options before us are countless,” he said. The already tense relations between Khartoum and Juba plummeted further last month as the recently separated countries failed to agree on a charge for transporting oil of land-locked South Sudan through Sudanese territories to export terminals on the Red Sea. As the talks over transit fees continued to flounder, Sudan moved to confiscate southern oil, prompting Juba to accuse it of “stealing” and halt oil production all together. “We have many cards to use against the south, and the southern government has consumed all its cards. We are yet to use any of the security cards and it is high time that the [Sudanese] government considers this option ,” Karti said, adding that it is time for Khartoum to move to “plan B.” Sudan and South Sudan routinely trade accusations of supporting rebel groups on each others’ territories. Khartoum says Juba is supporting SPLMN rebels, who fought as part of the southern army before independence, while Juba accuses Khartoum of supporting southern rebel groups. Karti said that Juba’s decision to halt oil production is essentially an attempt to change the regime in Khartoum by strangling it economically, saying that such plan will not work. “They are foolish to think that. The Sudanese government will not die,” he said. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Karti-warns-US-against-aid-in-war,41501 END4 5. Sudan rebels "seeking way" to hand over abducted Chinese BEIJING | Sat Feb 4, 2012 12:09am EST (Reuters) - Sudanese rebels said they are looking for ways to hand over 29 Chinese workers held in the border state of South Kordofan, Chinese state media said, as Sudan's government confirmed the death of one worker in a firefight. The construction workers were captured last Saturday and are apparently being held as pawns in a dispute between Sudan and rebels allied with the newly independent and oil-rich South Sudan. "Presently we are looking for a way ... to release these Chinese workers, set a date for their release and the party to which they are to be handed over," Arno Taloudy, a rebel spokesman, told China's state news agency Xinhua. Chinese officials had returned to Khartoum from Juba, the capital of South Sudan, and had been urging the rebels through "various channels" to release the workers, beginning with two women being held, Xinhua reported late on Friday. The case marks the third abduction of Chinese in Sudan since 2004 and highlights the risks to China's expanding economic footprint in Africa, particularly in troublespots often shunned by Western companies. On Wednesday, China secured the release of two dozen Chinese cement factory workers who were kidnapped in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, a day after being taken hostage by Bedouin tribesmen, Chinese and Egyptian media reported. Beijing is facing immense pressure to secure the safe return of the workers. State-owned newspapers have called for more protection for its overseas workers as the world's second-largest economy expands its investments around the globe. One worker, previously said to be missing after rescuers came under attack, had been killed by a stray bullet, a Sudanese official said, according to the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, the People's Daily. The official said the body could not be recovered because the area was riddled with land mines, but that authorities had made an "initial determination" of the location of the other Chinese workers, as well as seven Sudanese also captured. An earlier account from Xinhua quoted the Chinese embassy in Sudan as saying rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) attacked a total of 47 Chinese workers last Saturday. Eighteen managed to flee the scene of the attack and all but one of those were taken to safety after the rescue attempt on Sunday. One worker from that group, now dead, had been shot and deemed missing. Abdalla Masar, a Sudanese government spokesman, told Xinhua that Sudan had not received terms for release and had had no communication with the rebels. "We never deal with this movement because it is illegal and outlawed," he said. Sudan and South Sudan, which seceded in July, are at odds over issues including oil revenues. Each accuses the other of supporting insurgencies. China has sought to maintain good relations with Sudan, a long-time ally, and South Sudan, home to investments by state-owned Chinese oil giants China National Petroleum Corp and Sinopec. (Reporting by Michael Martina and Sabrina Mao; Editing by Nick Macfie) http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/04/us-china-sudan-idUSTRE81305R20120204 END5 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 82 050 1235 (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. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
The NCP Air Force bombards and kills Civilians in the Nuba Mountains.doc
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