---------- Sent from my Nokia phone
------Original message------ From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> To: "Group" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 8:44:39 AM GMT+0300 Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] 'Crisis conditions' in South Kordofan and Blue Nile 1. Sudan: Crisis Conditions in Southern Kordofan Nuba Civilians Suffer Indiscriminate Bombing, Severe Hunger MAY 4, 2012 Human Rights Watch (Juba) – The Sudanese government forces are conducting indiscriminate bombings and abuses against civilians in the Nuba Mountains area of Southern Kordofan, Human Rights Watch said today. Such attacks may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and are creating a humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by the government’s denial of access to humanitarian agencies outside government-controlled towns, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch researchers went to the region in mid-April 2012 and interviewed victims and witnesses in three areas. They consistently described almost-daily aerial bombardment by government forces, the destruction of grain and water sources that are critical to their survival, arbitrary detentions, and sexual violence against women. “Civilians in Southern Kordofan have endured 11 months of terror,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch, who took part in the research mission to the area in mid-April. “Children have been maimed, women have been raped, and many people have no idea whether family members detained by Sudanese government forces are dead or alive.” Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) are locked in an armed conflict in Southern Kordofan state and neighboring Blue Nile state, both of which lie north of the border with South Sudan, which gained independence in July 2011. Communities in both states were aligned with the southern rebels during Sudan’s 22-year civil war. The Sudanese government forces’ actions are serious violations of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said. The government should immediately halt indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, rein in abusive forces, and release civilians captured and now arbitrarily detained by its forces. On May 2, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning recent cross-border violence between Sudan and South Sudan, but failed to condemn Sudan’s indiscriminate bombing inside its own territory in areas such as Southern Kordofan. The UN Security Council and the African Union should unequivocally condemn these attacks, insist that Khartoum free all civilians unlawfully detained and facilitate access for aid agencies, Human Rights Watch said. The civilian deaths and injuries from aerial bombing investigated by Human Rights Watch occurred mostly in civilian areas, where witnesses indicated that there was no apparent military target or presence of rebel fighters at the time the attacks occurred. In recent weeks, fighting between Sudanese and South Sudanese forces in the oil-producing area of Heglig has overshadowed the ongoing crisis in Southern Kordofan, where conflict between the Sudanese government and remnants of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army first erupted in June 2011, and in Blue Nile, where the conflict spread in September 2011. Human Rights Watch also visited Blue Nile State in April. Human Rights Watch’s most recent research in Southern Kordofan builds on research in the region in August 2011. The April visits were to El Buram, Um Durein, and Heiban, three localities where the government bombing and humanitarian needs are severe. Human Rights Watch visited some areas that were particularly hard hit by fighting in December and February such as the towns of El Taice and Troji, where government soldiers destroyed boreholes and other sources of water and destroyed grain supplies as they withdrew. Human Rights Watch found that Sudan’s bombing campaign across the Nuba Mountains has killed and injured scores of civilians over the past 11 months. In one such attack, a bomb from an Antonov plane hit Halima Kafi’s home in El Taice, in El Buram, in March. Her brother was inside. “The bomb fell on the house, and we couldn’t find a single piece of my brother,” she said. Her 9-year-old daughter, Asia, also died immediately. Her 8-year-old son Khamis lost an arm; and 14-year-old Nafisa had shrapnel wounds all over her body. Thousands of Nuba civilians are hiding from bombs, shelling, and missiles in mountain caves, afraid to return home. Many displaced people interviewed by Human Rights Watch said their homes had been destroyed by the bombing and fighting, and they had lost all of their belongings, including cattle and other livestock looted by government soldiers. The fear of being hit by aerial bombardment prevents civilians from going about their normal lives, including preparing fields for cultivation. The loss of last year’s harvest, coupled with the Sudanese government’s refusal to allow humanitarian assistance into the Nuba Mountains, has created severe food shortages and prompted many civilians to flee the area. More than 350,000 people are estimated to be internally displaced within Southern Kordofan, according to Sudanese civil society and humanitarian groups. At least 25,000 have fled to refugee settlements in South Sudan. According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), an average of over 200 refugees arrived in the Yida refugee camp daily during April, and there has been a marked increase in cases of malnutrition among recent refugee arrivals. The Sudan government has permitted UN staff to go to Kadugli, in Southern Kordofan, and Damazin and Roseiris in Blue Nile, but has blocked humanitarian aid to the most severely affected areas and rebel-held areas in both states since the conflict began. The laws of war require all parties to the conflict, including the Sudanese authorities, to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian assistance for civilians in need. Although the Sudanese authorities have a right to control the delivery of aid, they may not arbitrarily deny access to humanitarian agencies and must allow access to humanitarian organizations that provide relief on an impartial and non-discriminatory basis if the survival of the population is threatened. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on the United Nations and African Union to demand an end to indiscriminate bombing in civilian areas and humanitarian access to populations in need in both Southern Kordofan and neighboring Blue Nile State, and to authorize an independent investigation into serious crimes against civilians in both states. “Khartoum’s indiscriminate bombing campaign, destruction of water resources and grain supplies, and steadfast denial of access for humanitarian assistance appears designed to starve civilians in the Nuba Mountains,” Lefkow said. “The suspected presence of rebels in the region in no way justifies brutally killing and starving its people, and destroying their homes and livelihoods.” Details of attacks on civilians and on their means to survival, arbitrary detentions, and other abuses follow. Indiscriminate Bombardment Since early June 2011, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) has continuously carried out indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian areas in the Nuba Mountains, killing scores of civilians and wounding many more, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch investigated airstrikes in El Buram, Um Durein, and Heiban localities. Witness accounts and physical evidence seen by Human Rights Watch, including bomb fragments, unexploded ordnance, and craters, indicate that the government forces have dropped bombs from Antonov planes, fired missiles from fighter jets, shelled, and launched rockets into civilian areas. People have been killed or wounded in their own homes, while trying to keep safe in mountain caves, and while grazing cattle. All civilians interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they had a friend, neighbor, or family member who had died as a result of bombing, or had been injured themselves. Medical staff at a hospital near Kauda told Human Rights Watch that almost all of the close to 100 people they have treated for injuries from bombings over the past 11 months have been civilians. Human Rights Watch visited a home outside of Um Sirdiba, Um Durein locality, where five members of a single family died when shells hit their home and set it ablaze the night of February 17. There were no apparent military targets in the vicinity. Four sisters who were sleeping in one room burned to death. Their father, Samuel Delami, died soon afterward. Halima Tiya Turkan, from the town of Ongolo in El Buram locality, was going to bury her brother, who had been killed by a bomb, when she heard the sound of an Antonov plane. She hid in a cave with her daughter, Asha. A bomb exploded at its entrance and bomb fragments flew inside, wounding the mother in the abdomen. “I didn’t know whether I would live or not,” she said. She was brought to a hospital on February 18, and was still recovering in April. Early one morning in March, 16-year-old Daniel Omar milked his uncle’s cows and took them to graze not far from their house in El Dar, El Buram locality. He heard the sound of an Antonov plane and lay down on the ground. A bomb landed 10 meters away, immediately cutting off one of his arms. The other was badly injured and was later amputated. “I still have pain in my wounds,” he told Human Rights Watch researchers. Around 10 a.m. on April 11, a 10-year-old boy, Kalo Sama, was playing with two other boys near mango trees in a field near Kauda. An Antonov dropped a bomb nearby, and fragments hit him in the left side of his head. His mother told Human Rights Watch that her son was so severely wounded that she did not recognize him when she found him in a hospital. His head is still bandaged and he has difficulty moving the left side of his body. Churches, hospitals, and schools have also been damaged. Human Rights Watch visited a church in Alganaya, El Buram locality, that was destroyed by a bomb dropped by an Antonov plane on January 13. A home nearby was damaged by a second bomb the same day. A pastor from Um Durein told Human Rights Watch that a church there had been bombed, injuring a 15-year-old boy. The hospital in the town of Buram was visibly damaged by bomb fragments. Sudanese human rights monitors also told Human Rights Watch that bombing or shelling had damaged a church in Darea, Dalami locality on December 31; a bible school in the town of Heiban on February 1; a clinic in Kurchi, Um Durein locality, on February 6; and a primary school in Um Sirdiba on February 17. Many civilians told Human Rights Watch that while they had endured near-daily bombing in previous months, the intensity of the bombing diminished in the first two weeks of April while the fighting was taking place between the Sudan and South Sudan armed forces in Heglig. Human Rights Watch has stated repeatedly that the armed forces’ bombing methods, rolling out unguided munitions manually from Antonov planes, is inherently indiscriminate as attacks cannot be directed accurately at a military objective. International humanitarian law prohibits attacks that do not or cannot discriminate between civilian and military objects. Attacks that may be expected to cause civilian harm disproportionate to the direct and concrete anticipated military gain are also prohibited. The Sudanese military and the SPLA-North, the armed opposition group operating in the Nuba mountains, are obliged to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to the civilian population. Arbitrary Arrest and Detention People in El Taice and Troji interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that Sudanese government soldiers, while in control of some areas, arbitrarily detained hundreds of men, women, and children, and then forced them to leave with the troops when they withdrew to government-controlled towns like Kadugli. The whereabouts of hundreds of civilians are unknown. Eight witnesses from El Taice told Human Rights Watch that in early 2012, the SAF captured an estimated 400 to 500 civilians. El Taice, which is near Kadugli, has changed hands several times over the past 11 months, and was controlled by government forces for brief periods. Human Rights Watch researchers visited the town in late April. Fatiya Kuchi was hiding in the mountains above the town and saw soldiers climbing into the hills, taking people by force and loading them into vehicles when the government forces left, apparently for Kadugli. “My mother was taken by SAF with four of my children. My first-born is a girl and she was pregnant. I don’t know if she is dead or alive,” she said. Hanan Kafi Rahal, also from El Taice, estimated seeing 10 large trucks filled with people. Six civilians from Troji described a similar pattern of forced detentions and subsequent disappearances. Men, women, and children fled up into the mountains when government forces captured Troji in December. Scores of people were detained while trying to gather remnants of the destroyed harvest from their fields or while going to fetch water, or were forcibly removed from places they had taken refuge in the mountains. Boutros Kuku Jahabiya, a farmer, said,“We were in the mountains and saw that many people were captured. Sometimes SAF would attack the mountains with guns and then when people ran down, SAF would capture them. Also, those in the mountains would get hungry and the only way for them to get food was to go down from the mountains. When they went down, SAF would also capture them.” He named 11 people he believed were taken by government forces and estimated that more than 200 had been captured by the government troops. People interviewed said they thought these civilians were taken to Kadugli or Kharasana, another town controlled by government forces. Arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, the taking of civilian hostages, and extrajudicial killings are all strictly prohibited under international human rights and humanitarian law, and may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes. Both the government and rebel forces are prohibited from ordering the displacement of civilians for reasons related to the conflict unless the security of the civilians or imperative military reasons so demand. Ordering the forced displacement of civilians for reasons related to the conflict, in other circumstances, is a war crime. Sexual Violence Human Rights Watch interviewed victims and several witnesses of sexual violence carried out by government soldiers in El Taice. A 22-year-old woman from El Taice reported that she was taken by Sudanese forces into a trench the troops had dug. “One threatened me with a gun and the other raped me,” she said. A mother of seven watched from a hiding place in the mountains as soldiers raped local women. “There were many ladies,” she said. “Some were injured. Some were killed and buried.” Government soldiers raped the mother, aunt, and sister of a young woman from El Taice: “I saw my aunt being raped. We were in the mountain together, and they came and took her. She was raped near the mountain…afterward they took her to Kadugli.” The young woman’s mother told her that she had been raped by 11 soldiers. “When my mother came home, she could not even sit down.” Human Rights Watch previously documented reports of rape in Kadugli and Heiban. Several people also spoke of rape by government soldiers or allied militia in Dalami, Troji, and Dammam, but Human Rights Watch has been unable to confirm specific incidents or interview witnesses from those incidents. Denial of Access to Essentials of Life The actions of the Sudanese government, including the destruction of towns across the Nuba Mountains and ongoing indiscriminate bombing, have resulted in a worsening humanitarian situation. Civilians, many of them displaced from their homes and living in mountain caves, urgently need food aid, access to potable water, and healthcare. The government, however, is continuing to restrict humanitarian aid. Communities in the Nuba Mountains rely heavily on their own agricultural production, planting crops in June and July and beginning to harvest in November. Due to indiscriminate attacks and bombing, many families were unable to cultivate their land in 2011. Many people interviewed said they still are too terrified by the continuing bombing to spend days outside in open fields, or are unable to reach farms located some distance from their homes. People in Troji told Human Rights Watch that in December, SAF soldiers set fire to stores of grain and to fields, destroyed grinding mills, and looted cattle. Troji was under SPLA-North control from June through the end of 2011, allowing some citizens time to plant crops. But the government attack coincided with the annual harvest. A traditional leader in Troji said that when Sudanese forces came in December, “they drove with tanks and vehicles over our fields and burned the piles of sorghum that had already been cut and heaped together. They put gas on them.” Human Rights Watch also heard allegations that government forces intentionally destroyed boreholes and water pumps, limiting access to potable water for some communities. Researchers saw physical evidence of this in El Taice, where a borehole pump in the middle of town appeared to have been intentionally unearthed and hand pumps had been dismantled. Civilians in Troji said that none of the boreholes are functional, and as a result, they drink well water, which is visibly discolored. One man in Troji told Human Rights Watch: “Before SAF left, they destroyed all boreholes, so we are just drinking water from the wells. This water is dirty, and sometimes causes sicknesses. There were six boreholes in this area, and all were destroyed.” People interviewed said it was particularly hard for them to get food and water when their towns were under government control. In El Taice and Troji, civilians described hiding in the mountains from government forces. Some of those who ventured down to gather grain or to fetch something to drink were either captured or killed. The inability to cultivate, the destruction of crops, and restrictions of movement mean that civilians increasingly face serious hunger and risk starvation. Many people said they have been eating leaves, nuts, and wild fruit for months. Sorghum, the staple food, is completely unavailable in some markets, or is extremely expensive. The price of a malwa [about 3.5 kg] of sorghum has apparently risen from 2 or 3 Sudanese pounds to 15 pounds in Kauda. Human Rights Watch heard multiple reports that some people, particularly the elderly and children, have died of hunger or disease, but was unable to confirm the allegations. Saleh Tiran Talha, 32, told Human Rights Watch that his 2-year-old son and father both died of illness in a cave around Buram town last November. He was unable to find medicine for his son, and was forced to abandon the body of his father when Antonovs flew over as he was going to bury him. Zahra Jadain, living in mountains around El Taice, said: “My mother is there in the caves. She is sick and cannot walk. There is no hospital to take her to. I don’t have anything I can do with her. She is complaining of back pain because of running so much and carrying things on her head.” International humanitarian law prohibits parties to an armed conflict from destroying objects indispensible to the survival of civilian populations and deliberately causing a population to suffer from hunger. For the past 11 months, the Sudanese government has restricted humanitarian access to Southern Kordofan. The laws of war require all parties to the conflict, including the Sudanese authorities, to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief for civilians in need. International Response The international response to ongoing violence and human rights violations in the two states has been muted, said Human Rights Watch. While the UN Security Council’s May 2 resolution urged the two parties to the conflict to permit humanitarian access to the population in Sudan and South Sudan affected by the cross-border violence, it stopped short of condemning indiscriminate bombing of civilian populations in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile or calling for an investigation into abuses there. In February, the African Union, the United Nations, and the League of Arab States proposed a tri-partite agreement to permit humanitarian access to the affected populations in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, but the Sudan government has refused to accept this proposal. An August 2011 report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recommended an independent, thorough, and objective inquiry into alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Southern Kordofan, with a view of holding those responsible to account. Human Rights Watch has also called for an independent investigation into abuses in both Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile. President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur. In December, the ICC prosecutor requested an arrest warrant for Sudan’s defense minister, Abduraheem Hussein, for his involvement in the same conflict. Ahmed Haroun, the current governor of Southern Kordofan, is also wanted on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur. Impunity for crimes in Darfur has allowed Sudan to continue committing grave abuses against its own citizens in Darfur and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said. Background The outbreak of fighting in Southern Kordofan followed weeks of growing tensions between the northern Sudan ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) over disputed state gubernatorial elections and security arrangements in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the long-running civil war. The election results indicated that Haroun narrowly won the governorship. Conflict spread in early September to Blue Nile state, where tensions between the two political parties had risen amid delays in carrying out the popular consultations called for in the peace agreement. http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/05/04/sudan-crisis-conditions-southern-kordofan END1 2. Sudan: Blue Nile Civilians Describe Attacks, Abuses Reports of Indiscriminate Bombings, Killings, Detentions Should be Investigated APRIL 23 2012 Human Rights Watch (Juba) – Civilians are bearing the brunt of abuses in Sudan’s simmering border conflict in Blue Nile state, Human Rights Watch said today, based on a research trip in April 2012 into Blue Nile. As in neighboring Southern Kordofan, which Human Rights Watch visited in August 2011, civilians in Blue Nile continue to endure Sudan’s indiscriminate bombing and other abuses, even as new conflict between Sudan and South Sudan threatens to engulf the wider border area. Witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Blue Nile, which the government has largely shut off from the outside world, described indiscriminate bombings in civilian areas, killings, and other serious abuses by Sudanese armed forces since armed conflict broke out there in September 2011. The testimony indicates potential war crimes may have occurred, Human Rights Watch said. The United Nations (UN) and African Union should insist that Sudan end indiscriminate bombing in civilian areas, and immediately allow aid into the state. The Security Council should urge the Sudanese Government to allow a full and impartial investigation by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights into events in both Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, said Human Rights Watch. “The fighting in Blue Nile has turned its people into refugees, forcing them to abandon their homes and livelihoods,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The horrific accounts of extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and mass looting and destruction of property need to be investigated, and those responsible held to account.” Little information has emerged about events in Blue Nile. Sudan has not granted journalists, independent monitors, or aid groups access to Blue Nile state or to neighboring Southern Kordofan, where conflict erupted last June. Since the United Nations mandate for a peacekeeping operation in the region expired in July 2011, there have been no UN monitors on the ground to document the initial impact of the fighting on civilians in Blue Nile, where conflict spread in September. The research in Blue Nile indicates that Sudan’s bombing campaign has killed, maimed, and injured scores of civilians since September and destroyed civilian property including markets, homes, schools, farms, and aid group offices. Refugees in South Sudan as well as internally displaced civilians inside Sudan told Human Rights Watch that aerial bombing since September in their residential areas forced them to flee their homes. Most of those interviewed had abandoned their villages and farms between September and November and were on the move inside Blue Nile for several months with limited access to food or water. More than 100,000 people are refugees in South Sudan and Ethiopia, and another 100,000 are still displaced in Blue Nile, including groups of potentially several thousand who are stranded in remote areas. The states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, where violence began three months earlier, lie north of the border with South Sudan, and have populations who were aligned with the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) during Sudan’s long civil war. In both Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, conflict broke out amid increased tensions between Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party and the northern sector of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) over security arrangements in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur, set a June 1, 2011 deadline for all SPLA forces to leave Sudan. The northern sector of the SPLM, now known as SPLM-North, contended that the peace agreement gives the parties six months to withdraw after completing popular consultations, which had not yet occurred when violence broke out. The consultations are mandated under the peace agreement so that people in both states can decide on their system of governance while remaining part of Sudan. On the night of September 1, fighting started in Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile, between the Sudanese armed forces and SPLA remnants who were there under the terms of the peace agreement. Witnesses from Damazin told Human Rights Watch that government soldiers used tanks and heavy weapons to destroy civilian property, including residential homes and the Malik Agar cultural center. Soldiers and national security forces then rounded up suspected members of SPLM-North, arresting people in their homes and in the streets, and looted extensively. On September 2, President al-Bashir announced a state of emergency in Blue Nile and dismissed the state’s SPLM-North governor, Malik Agar, replacing him with a military commander. The next day authorities announced that SPLM-North was banned, seized their offices, and arrested party leaders and members across Sudan. Shukri Ahmed Ali, the local administrator in charge of Roseris, a town neighboring Damazin, and an SPLM-North member who had fled the town with other party leaders, told Human Rights Watch that on September 3 soldiers at a checkpoint between Roseris and Damazin shot dead two of his family members and his driver, and seriously injured a third relative, as they were entering Damazin, apparently believing the commissioner himself was in the car. “Sudanese authorities clearly targeted known opposition party members and civilians they perceived to be opposition supporters, in total disregard for basic human rights,” Bekele said. “Sudan needs to hold abusive forces accountable, and release all illegally held detainees.” In the following days, hundreds of men in Damazin, Roseris, and other towns were taken to military barracks, national security offices, and other places of detention. Many were held for weeks or months without charge. Former detainees told Human Rights Watch they were beaten, made to sleep in crowded rooms, deprived of sleep, food and water, and witnessed executions of other detainees while in detention. Lawyers following the detentions estimate that more than 200 people are still being detained or are missing. The Sudan attorney general’s office announced in March that it had completed investigations of 132 detainees and accused them of crimes against the state and espionage. Authorities have refused to provide information to the lawyers about prosecutions, access to the detainees, a full list of their names and whereabouts, or the exact charges against all of them. Sudan has refused to sign an agreement with SPLM-North granting access for humanitarian aid for Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, as proposed by the United Nations, African Union, and League of Arab states. “By shutting out the world, including human rights monitors, Sudan is only reinforcing concern that it is trying to hide heinous crimes,” Bekele said. For witness accounts of the attacks in Blue Nile state, see below: Indiscriminate Bombing of Civilian Areas Human Rights Watch visited 12 bomb sites and interviewed witnesses and victims of several attacks. In one example, at around 2 p.m. on November 10, an aircraft described by witnesses as an Antonov plane dropped at least 9 bombs on the village of Balatoma, killing 11 people – 9 of them instantly – including at least 2 young children, and injuring 21 others. Kirge Koja Doto, a 28-year-old mother who was pregnant at the time, was sitting in the market in Balatoma when a bomb fell nearby. “We heard the sound of the plane and looked up and saw it and heard the explosion,” she recalled. “I lay on the ground. The people near me were crying. I tried to get up and walk but could not. I realized my leg was hit,” Doto’s left leg was blown off. She now lives confined to a small grass hut in Doro refugee camp, in South Sudan. Reports of witnesses in Blue Nile indicated several other apparently indiscriminate bomb attacks on towns and villages in Kormuk county at the end of 2011 in which civilians were killed. In one early October 2011 attack on Mayar village, west of Kormuk, bombs reportedly fell on a home killing seven civilians. Human Rights Watch observed destruction to aid group offices in the Yabus area. Refugees crossing into South Sudan have been hit by indiscriminate bombing at Guffa and Alfuj border crossings. On March 26, 8 bombs were dropped on Alfuj, where a group of several hundred refugees had gathered before crossing into refugee camps in South Sudan. The bombs injured four civilians and killed livestock. Human Rights Watch saw one crater at Alfuj and witnesses described several others in the bush where the refugees were staying, some distance from the town. Sudan uses unguided munitions, often rolled out manually from Antonov cargo planes in a manner that does not allow for accurate delivery. Use of weapons in a civilian area that cannot accurately be directed at a military objective makes such strikes inherently indiscriminate, in violation of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said. International humanitarian law obliges both parties to the armed conflict to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to the civilian population. SPLA-North fighters should not operate or initiate attacks from residential areas and to the extent feasible should avoid operating in populated civilian areas where their presence is likely to have a harmful impact on civilians, said Human Rights Watch. Impact of the Bombing The indiscriminate bombing spread palpable fear among the civilian population in Blue Nile. In all areas visited in Sudan and South Sudan, including refugee camps in South Sudan, residents had dug foxholes for shelter in the event of a bomb attack. Displaced people living in Blue Nile told Human Rights Watch they had limited access to food, water, and medicine and were surviving on wild fruits and plants. Their children have no access to school. Thousands of people are reportedly stranded in remote areas, needing help to leave, or in places to which Sudanese government forces have blocked access, particularly at Maghaja, in Bau locality. The approaching rainy season is expected to make access from Blue Nile to refugee camps in Southern Sudan or Ethiopia impossible within weeks. Sudan has a clear obligation to allow aid groups to access all parts of the state, Human Rights Watch said. The laws of war require all parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief for civilians in need, conducted without any adverse distinction. Attacks on Civilians, Killings After fighting broke out in September in Damazin, Sudan’s forces moved south, advancing on Kormuk, a rebel-stronghold they captured in November. Community leaders who fled to South Sudan told Human Rights Watch that Sudan government forces clashed with SPLA-North forces and conducted military operations in dozens of villages along the main road to Kormuk. Following the government’s takeover of Kormuk, forces also conducted military operations in villages around the Ingessana mountains. Clashes have continued in that area, with unconfirmed reports that on April 15 shelling by government forces killed 11 displaced civilians in Khor Maksa. A teacher from Bau, a strategic town in the foothills of the Ingessana mountains, told researchers that in December he saw soldiers enter the town from three directions and fire on civilians. He estimated that they killed 10 men and boys, including the guard of his school and a 14-year-old shepherd boy. He said that neither was a combatant or was carrying weapons. Human Rights Watch was unable to verify the deaths of the other eight people. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that SPLM-North party members were executed. In el-Silek village, southwest of Bau, the dead bodies of six civilian members of SPLM-North were found with feet and hands bound, their throats slit, and with gunshot wounds in the head, following a battle between Sudanese government forces and SPLA-North in mid-September, an SPLM-North official who found the bodies hours after the executions told Human Rights Watch. He said all six were unarmed civilian members of the party. It was not possible for Human Rights Watch to independently verify the circumstances of their killing. In line with international law, both Sudan forces and SPLA-North are required to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties during military operations, and deliberate targeting of civilians and extra judicial killings are always strictly prohibited, and constitute a war crime. In many locations, including Damazin, witnesses saw Popular Defense Forces (PDF), an auxiliary force drawn from Fellata and other nomadic ethnic groups whose members Sudan is actively recruiting, leaders who were interviewed told Human Rights Watch. Sudan has long used PDF in its regional conflicts and their participation has exacerbated local conflicts in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan for decades. The rules of international humanitarian law apply equally to these forces and the Sudanese army, Human Rights Watch said. Arbitrary Arrests, Extrajudicial Executions As fighting broke out in Damazin and other towns where SPLA-North forces were present, witnesses told Human Rights Watch, government forces rounded up, detained, verbally and physically abused, and killed civilians based on their presumed ties to SPLM-North and its armed wing, SPLA-North. Scores of detainees were released only after being forced to renounce their political affiliation, local groups reported and former detainees told Human Rights Watch. A 23-year-old man from Roseris, now living in South Sudan, told Human Rights Watch that national security officers arrested and removed him from his house, accusing him and his 36-year-old brother of being SPLA-North soldiers, and detained them in a crowded cell for more than 3 weeks. “They tied our hands and put us in the land cruiser and beat us with belts, feet, hands and said, ‘We are going to use you,’ and, ‘You will see many things,’” he recalled. “If you complained that people are sick [the commander] would say, ‘Let them die, they are kufar [infidels].” During his detention, he saw other inmates badly beaten and, on one occasion, he saw a military official shoot two men in the head at close range outside the cell, killing them instantly. Upon his release, the national security officials pressured him to work with them and ordered him to check in every day. Issa Daffala Sobahi, a 33-year-old guard for a state minister who is a known SPLM-North member in Damazin, told Human Rights Watch that soldiers arrested him on the morning of September 2 at the minister’s home, beat and shackled him, and insulted him by calling him “kufar” [infidel] and saying,“You don’t know Allah.” He said they detained him in their military compound with other civilians arrested that morning. “They took people to the river and shot them,” he told Human Rights Watch. “I myself was taken to the river with three others on the second day. They killed two of us.” Soldiers threatened to kill him, but did not. “They said, ‘You are all with Malik [the governor], we are going to kill you,” he recalled. Later the same day, he saw the soldiers shoot a woman who was carrying a baby as she resisted arrest. He managed to escape from the prison compound that night. The lawyers following the detention cases believe that the more than 200 people still detained are held in detention centers in Blue Nile or in prison in Sennar and Sinja, in neighboring Sennar state. Abdelmonim Rahama, a well-known poet and adviser to the former governor of Blue Nile who was arrested on September 2, has been held without access to lawyers or family in various locations. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have repeatedly called on Sudan to make known the names of all those in detention, their whereabouts, and charge or release all political detainees. http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/04/23/sudan-blue-nile-civilians-describe-attacks-abuses END2 3. Bashir vows from South Kordofan’s embattled town of Talodi to overrun rebels’ bastion May 4, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir paid an unannounced visit on Friday to Talodi town in the country’s war-battered region of South Kordofan. In an address at Talodi’s military base, Al-Bashir hailed Sudanese government troops for thwarting recent attempts by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) to capture the town. The Sudanese leader said that he hopes to perform prayers next Friday in the SPLM-N’s stronghold of Kauda. He urged troops to teach the enemy an unforgettable lesson and purge South Kordofan of any traitor. “We came here to tell the people of Talodi that we are standing by your side and we will wage a campaign to liberate and purge Sudan of the traitors who sold their country out.” Al-Bashir accused the leader of the SPLM-N rebellion in South Kordofan, Abdel-Aziz Al-Hilu, of being “a mere façade of the foreign powers” that fund their activities. Sudan accuses neighbouring South Sudan of supporting the rebels who fought under the insignia of the southern army during north-south civil wars in the former united Sudan. South Kordofan’s governor, Ahmad Haroun, welcomed Al-Bashir’s visit and said in his presence that Talodi would remain firmly under government control and serve as a springboard towards their next goal which, according to Sudan news agency, is the liberation of Kauda. SPLM-N rebels made several attempts to capture Talodi in the last few months and on April 22 announced seizing part of it. Sudan says it repelled the attacks. The rebels have been fighting the government since June last year when Khartoum attempted to disarm them on the grounds of their affiliation to South Sudan’s army. The conflict spread to Blue Nile State in September of the same year. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Bashir-vows-from-South-Kordofan-s,42501 END3 4. The Position of the SPLM-N on the African Union/UNSC Resolutions “Roadmap” After consultation with the SPLM-N leadership and with the participation of the SPLM-N Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and the Secretary General, the SPLM-N resolved the following on the African Union/UNSC Resolution 2046 dated May 2, 2012. 1) The SPLM-N welcomes the Security Council Resolution and the efforts exerted by the African Union and the United Nations Security Council to stop the war within Sudan and between the two Sudans. 2) The SPLM-N believes with a deep conviction that a comprehensive peaceful settlement is the best choice for the Sudanese people and the parties to the conflict. 3) The entry point for the comprehensive peaceful settlement in Sudan is for the parties to address urgently and seriously the humanitarian crisis in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile immediately and to put into effect the tripartite agreement of the United Nations, African Union and the Arab League, which was signed by the SPLM-N long ago and avoided by Khartoum using different tricks to buy time. And in this regard, the SPLM-N is ready for a humanitarian cessation of hostilities that will enable the UN, African Union and Arab League to implement their proposal. 4) It is worth mentioning that General Bashir is taking more than 400,000 IDPs in Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile as hostages, denying them access to humanitarian aid and bombarding them on a daily basis. He is personally preparing for the new last summer offensive attempt as came openly in his speech last Friday in Talodi/Nuba Mountains, asking his forces to launch a new offensive and to reach Kauda for him to pray this Friday extremely expensive prayers that are on the skulls, blood and tears of civil populations knowing that this area is heavily populated. For sure, the SPLA-N will defend the civil populations. It is clear that the practical response of General Bashir to the Security Council is to widen the crisis not to solve it. 5) The only peaceful settlement known and loved by General Bashir is a piecemeal solution approach and he already deserves to be in the Guinness World Record for violating more than 43 peace agreements with the Sudanese people and for committing war crimes. He signed the agreements with or without the African Union, Arab League or United Nations and we do not want to add a new one. This is our only reservation, which we will be delighted and more than ready to discuss it and to consult with the United Nations and the African Union. 6) It is apparently clear that it is Khartoum that fought South Sudan, South Kordofan/Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, Darfur, Eastern Sudan and marginalized rural areas, farmers, workers, professionals, women and youth. The real lasting solution will be dependent on the transformation and a new constitutional arrangement that will include transforming the center of power in Khartoum and that would address the re-structuring of power in Khartoum and would establish a new system based on equal citizenship within a framework of a comprehensive peaceful settlement. 7) We need to remind ourselves that it is General Bashir who denounced and disowned the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement of June 28, 2011; banned the SPLM-N; removed an elected Governor of Blue Nile; committed war crimes in the Two Areas; and targeted, killed, sentenced to death, and imprisoned hundreds of the SPLM-N members on political, religious and ethnic grounds. Last week alone, he arrested more than 50 of our leaders and members who are working peacefully. All of that was carried out after the June 28th Framework Agreement. It needs to register that impunity and appeasement can bring more human rights violations and war crimes as demonstrated in General Bashir’s speech in Talodi. 8) The SPLM-N, being a committed member of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, is calling for an urgent meeting of the Sudan Revolutionary Front leadership council to discuss, among other issues, the Security Council Resolution as well as consulting with all of the opposition groups and the friends of the SPLM-N in Sudan and outside Sudan to strengthen the path and opportunities for a lasting comprehensive peaceful settlement. Yasir Arman Secretary General, SPLM-N May 7, 2012 END4 5. UNHCR Press Release: Sudanese refugees face increasing challenges in South Sudan camps Juba, 2 May 2012. The UN refugee agency in South Sudan is concerned about increasing numbers of malnourished refugees arriving in Yida. Additionally, water shortages could worsen the plight of refugees in Jammam settlement. Urgent action is being taken to avert humanitarian crises in both locations. Yida, a refugee settlement in Unity state on the border with Southern Kordofan, received a daily average of 300 new arrivals in April, almost four times the rate in February and March. This week the population of Yida surpassed the 27,000 mark. New arrivals cite mostly food shortages in the Nuba Mountains as the cause of their flight. QUOTE With the larger numbers of refugees arriving and increasing cases of malnutrition among them, we have stepped up assistance,UNQUOTE said Mireille Girard, UNHCR Representative in South Sudan. QUOTE Upon arrival in Yida, refugees are screened and issued with food including high energy biscuits. Agencies are providing urgent medical attention to malnourished children and implementing therapeutic feeding programmes. UNQUOTE According to Ravindran Velusamy, who heads UNHCR operations in Unity state, the swelling refugee population in Yida has increased pressures on basic services over the past month. QUOTE There are longer queues at water points. We are working with the community to manage timetables for drawing water while specialized agencies install additional water facilities. UNQUOTE Velusamy noted that as the rainy season approaches, a blanket distribution of relief supplies is being organized. QUOTE Plastic sheeting for shelter and mosquito nets are the priority. We already had targeted distribution of essential items for the most vulnerable refugees, including older persons, the handicapped and unaccompanied minors. UNQUOTE New arrivals are also prioritized for distribution. The World Food Programme is pre-positioning food stocks, and agencies are discussing arrangements to evacuate refugees who may need medical treatment as roads become impassable. QUOTE Last year, Yida was an island. Surrounding areas were flooded and road access was impossible. We had to fly in humanitarian aid, a costly endeavour with considerably less impact than overland operations, UNQUOTE said Girard. Although recent hostilities between South Sudan and Sudan did not affect refugee locations in Unity state directly, UNHCR remains deeply concerned that the proximity of Yida to the disputed border area of Jaw is a serious threat to the refugees security. Preserving the civilian character of refugee locations also remains a core concern for humanitarians. We therefore continue to advocate for the refugees to move to other settlements at a safer distance from the border. In Upper Nile state, humanitarian actors are stepping up measures to remedy water shortages and mitigate the risk of outbreaks of cholera or other water-borne diseases in Jammam refugee settlement. A combination of factors, particularly population density and the limited water yield, is intensifying health risks. Jammam is home to 37,000 Sudanese refugees. The water supply situation became increasingly problematic as the population multiplied earlier this year. Existing sources could not yield adequate quantities of water to support growing demand. Despite extensive drilling, sufficient viable water sources have not emerged thus far. Humanitarian partners have been trucking and piping water from elsewhere and treating surface water where available. Medical and other humanitarian actors drew up contingency plans to respond to any eventual outbreak of disease. They pre-positioned medical supplies and established treatment units. QUOTE We are taking urgent measures to immediately move 15,000 refugees to a different location in order to reduce demands on limited water resources in Jammam, UNQUOTE said Frederic Cussigh, UNHCR head of operations in the area. QUOTE We will also continue drilling efforts, to provide water for the remaining 22,000 refugees as well as local communities. UNQUOTE Urgent efforts are being made to transport a much larger rig than those already in place, to explore deeper water sources. Transporting such heavy duty equipment to this remote part of the country is a major logistical challenge. In nearby Doro settlement where another 52,000 Sudanese refugees are residing, drilling efforts have been more successful. Partners have secured 13 litres of water per person per day and aim to reach the internationally recommended standard of 15 to 20 litres per person per day shortly. Less than a year after gaining independence, South Sudan is one of Africa’s major refugee-hosting countries. In addition to nearly 120,000 Sudanese refugees in Unity and Upper Nile states, there are some 23,000 Congolese and Central African refugees in LRA-affected areas along the southern border, as well as some 4,000 Ethiopian Anyuak refugees in different parts of the country. Teresa Ongaro | Senior External Relations Officer | UNHCR Juba, South Sudan | Telephone +4122 739 7554 | Mobile +211 927 770 040 | Email [email protected] | Twitter: TerryOngaro | Skype: TerryOngaro 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.
