---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 12:55 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Nuba and Blue Nile conflicts continue To: Group <[email protected]>
1. SCC Communication on the Situation in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan State [attached] Date: February 25, 2013 END1 2. Nuba Reports : Daily life in the Nuba (2013) : Eyes and Ears Nuba 02/21/2013 - 08:54 am On February 20, 2013 at 2:30pm a Sudan government Antonov airplane dropped 2 bombs in the Buram town market, 1 bomb in Tess and 3 bombs in Jebal Kuwa. 1 cow was killed in Buram. There are no reported civilian injuries or deaths as a result of these bombings in Buram. 02/17/2013 - 01:24 pm On February 15, 2013 at 10:00am, the market in Kalac burned to the ground, killing 2 people. The cause of the fire is unknown. 02/17/2013 - 01:22 pm On February 15, 2013 at 2:30pm a Sudan Air Force Antonov plane dropped 4 bombs in the village of Toroji, killing 3 cows and destroying 2 houses of civilian, Kuwa Kuku. The same Antonov then bombed the village of Lima wounding an 18 year old girl and also killing some livestock. 02/16/2013 - 09:16 am On February 14, 2013 at 6:00pm a Sudan Air Force Antonov plane dropped 9 bombs in Jau. The South Sudan border town of Jau marks the only route for fleeing civilians from South Kordofan to reach the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan. Tensions have been rising over the past few months along border states of Sudan and South Sudan as troops increase their numbers on each side. 02/10/2013 - 12:39 pm On February 10, 2013 at 9:20am a Sudan government Antonov plane dropped 2 bombs in the village of Tess and 5 bombs in the town of Buram. The bombing in Buram destroyed two classrooms at the Buram Secondary School and damaged other school buildings. 02/07/2013 - 09:05 am On February 5, 2013 a Sudan government Antonov airplane dropped 7 bombs in the villages of Ganiah and Dabikia in South Kordofan, wounding civilian Elimen Kuku, age 39, and destroying the house of civilian, Asha Tutu. 02/04/2013 - 11:13 am On February 3, 2013 at 2:15am a Sudan government Antonov airplane dropped 10 bombs in Buram and 4 bombs in Tess. 2 civilian homes were destroyed in the Buram bombing. Later that morning at 8:30am, an Antonov airplane dropped 2 bombs in the village of Tabanya. There are no reported injuries or deaths. 01/27/2013 - 01:49 pm On January 27, 2013 at 8:30am a Sudan government Antonov airplane dropped 10 bombs in the villages of Rekia, Masakin and Buram in Buram county. There are no reported injuries or deaths. 01/24/2013 - 12:59 pm According to the SPLM-N, on January 23, 2013 SPLA-N forces ambushed a Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) convoy between Dilling and Um Haitan Road. The SPLA-N captured a Land Cruiser truck from the SAF forces. 01/24/2013 - 09:13 am On January 22, 2013 at 11:00am a Sudanese government Antonov airplane dropped 8 bombs in the village of Tamadango near Reika in Buram County, South Kordofan. The following morning at 3:00am a Sudanese government airplane dropped 2 bombs in the village of Tess. No one was reported injured or killed in the bombing attacks. 01/21/2013 - 09:37 am According to SPLM-N spokesman Arnu Ngtullu, on January 19, 2013 Sudan Armed Forces and government supported militias attacked the SPLA-N in Al Shifir village in Al Sonut County in the western side of South Kordofan. SPLA-N claim to still control the region and to killing 4 SAF soldiers in the battle. The SPLM-N spokesman told Nuba Reports that 2 SPLA-N soldiers were killed and 4 wounded on their side. 01/20/2013 - 01:45 pm On January 15, 2013 at 6:00pm a Sudanese Government Antonov airplane dropped 3 bombs in the village of Tabanya. No one was injured or killed in the bombing. 01/20/2013 - 01:42 pm On January 20, 2013 Jalila Khamis Koko was released from prison after her arrest in March 2012 by Sudan's National Security. Jalila was arrested after openly speaking about her views on the Sudan government in an recorded interview and was facing the death penalty as she awaited trail. Many Sudanese and international human rights organizations called for the release of Jalila stating that her arrest was unlawful. 01/13/2013 - 11:48 am On January 13, 2013 at 10:00am a Sudan government Antonov dropped 5 bombs in the village of Tess killing civilian, Samhan, age 1 and injuring his brother. The bombs also burned many acres of grazing land. 01/13/2013 - 11:46 am On January 12, 2013 at 10:30pm a Sudan government Antonov dropped 10 bombs in the village of Tess. There are no reported injuries or deaths. 01/12/2013 - 12:13 pm On January 12, 2013 at 11:00am a Sudan government Antonov dropped 4 bombs in Buram, South Kordofan. Four civilians were wounded and 1 house burned down as a result of the attack. The names of the wounded are: Izzadine Kuwa 37, Tijani Kuwa 28, Jima Espare 23, and Damam Kuku 45. Damam Kuku suffered from a piece of shrapnel entering his eye and exiting his head but is still stable. 01/12/2013 - 09:06 am On the early morning of January 11, 2013 SPLA-N forces conducted an offensive against Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) located in Al Hamra and Lahamar, just 15km south of the state capital, Kadugli. Both SPLA-N and SAF claim heavy causalities on their opponent's side. Nuba Reports journalist, Ahmed Khatir was able to get close to the front lines and report that SPLA-N entered the town of Lahamar at mid-day and left the town later that day leaving neither side occupying the town. The region remains tense as the past 2 months have seen heavy fighting around Kadugli. 01/12/2013 - 08:09 am On January 9, 2013 a Sudan government Antonov plane dropped 8 bombs in Debi, South Kordofan on the town's market day. The attack killed Abdu Jadaih, age 58, and wounded 7 others. Among the wounded is Nadia Arna ,68, whose leg was cut off by shrapnel from the bomb. 01/06/2013 - 03:56 pm After 5 days of deliberations, Sudanese opposition and rebel groups agreed to unite forces to overthrow the regime of the National Congress Party (NCP) and to jointly rule the country until democratic elections are held. The 15 page "New Dawn Charter" signed January 5th, outlines the future for a united Sudan, establishes a strong relationship with newly independent South Sudan, lays the groundwork for an interim government and emphasizes that the new alliance agrees to a "peaceful mass action and its transformation to a peaceful popular uprising." 01/04/2013 - 09:34 am On January 3, 2013 at 2:00pm a Sudan Government Antonov airplane dropped 10 bombs in a small village just outside of Buram, destroying the house of civilian, Abut Mugadum. All of the family's grain from the last harvest stored in the house was destroyed. END2 3. SPLA-N Graduates New Soldiers Approximately 1,000 Soldiers Join the Ranks of the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North's "Regime Topple Brigades" 01/06/2013 - 05:39 pm Ahmed Khatir At a secret training camp in South Kordofan, the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) has graduated new soldiers to its all-volunteer army. Approximately 1,000 recruits in three "regime topple brigades" will join an estimated 25,000 SPLA-N soldiers; among them are teachers, farmers, merchants and mothers. Nuba Reports spoke to one of these graduates, Afaf, a 33-year-old mother from Kadugli, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF)-controlled capital city where the war began. She is among about twenty other women who joined the ranks recently from the second "regime topple" unit. Afaf acknowledged that the circumstances of her life are unique. "For a woman, yes, the traditional place is the kitchen," she said, but the current escalation of violence between the Sudan Armed Forces and rebel groups like the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) demand a new way of being. "Even in the kitchen," she said, "the Antonov is still flying over us." The daily appearance of the Russian-made Antonov planes casts a violent shadow over the population living in the SPLA-N stronghold of South Kordofan. Nuba Reports confirmed more than 220 bombs dropped from the aircrafts in the region in December. While many volunteers for the SPLA-N are trained to fight, others are merely trained to survive. Brigadier General Arwa, explained that the rebel movement, SPLM-N, teaches citizens the skills for coping in a combat zone. Volunteers are educated within the ranks of the SPLA-N and employed in administrative and public services. "We as Nuba have realized that we are targeted through several forms, we are targeted as ethnicity, we are targeted for our lands, for its richness," Arwa said. "As a result, the leadership of SPLA-N and SPLM-N thought that people must be ready against this targeting." Willing recruits arrive at the camps in increasing numbers, Arwa said, traveling by foot from villages near the Nuba Mountains, areas frequently targeted by aerial bombs. But not all recruits hail from the small villages in South Kordofan. Many soldiers come from large cities such as Khartoum, Port-Sudan, Medani and Gadarif to train with the SPLA-N. General Arwa anticipates the number of volunteers to keep growing as tensions flare between the SAF and SPLA-N and violence increases. When questioned about recent accusations that the SPLA-N recruited minors, Arwa insisted that was untrue. Gesturing to the camp, he said that the training grounds are open to observers and human rights organizations. "Whenever we get a chance for the people to go to schools," he said, "we immediately take them there. We have enough men and women capable to carry weapons and protect our lands." Having educated citizens is the best way to fight back against the ruling powers in Khartoum, he suggested. "We are working to make sure the windows of education are maximally open," Arwa said. "If you recruit someone by force, they will never stay." http://www.nubareports.org/reports/spla-n-graduates-new-soldiers Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ1gsBeRrnk END3 4. SPLA-N CLAIMS TO HAVE ENTERED KURMUK Monday, 25 February 2013 13:44 | Catholic Radio Network The Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North or SPLA-N said its forces entered Kurmuk, in Blue Nile State, and were fighting the local garrison. SPLA-N spokesperson Arnu Ngutulu Lodi said the rebels were pressurizing the demoralized government forces and militias that suffered heavy casualties. He added that SPLA-N forces would maintain its pressure until Kurmuk was fully liberated. The Sudanese military denied the claims. Kurmuk is a strategic town in Blue Nile State, near the Ethiopian border that was taken by the Government forces in November 2011. Last week, SPLA-N overran the Sudanese army in Mufu, on the way to Kurmuk. http://catholicradionetwork.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9453:spla-n-claims-to-have-entered-kurmuk&catid=2:south-sudan&Itemid=84 END4 5. Blue Nile dismisses rumours about SPLM-N capture of key border town February 22, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The Blue Nile government has dismissed rumours about the fall of Kurmuk town on the border with Ethiopia, saying it remains in the hands of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), following the recent clashes in the Sudanese state’s south-east. The Sudanese army attacked the positions of the SPLM-N in Blue Niles’ Mafo last week but admitted that its troops had pulled out of the area, amidst rebel claims they had defeated the army before pursuing its troops to the outskirts of the city. The spokesperson of the Blue Nile state government, Kamal Khalaf Allah, told Ashrooq TV that reports of rebels advancing towards Kurmuk are “unfounded rumours and media hype”, asserting the government’s readiness to repel any attack. The head of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the Blue Nile, Abdel-Rahman Bou-Midian, told the private TV channel that what happened in Mafo is “a normal hit and run operation” and vowed to retake the area from the rebels. The SPLM-N announced that its secretary-general, Yasir Arman, will lead a negotiating delegation to Addis Ababa where African Union-led mediation team intends to organise direct talks between the two parties on 15 March to discuss a peaceful solution to the conflict. Khartoum did not yet say whether it would participate or not in the first direct political talks with the SPLM-N as it has previously demanded that Juba should disengage with the latter before engaging in negotiations. However, analysts in Khartoum agree that the recent surge of violence is a prelude to negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLM-N, saying every side tries to strengthen its positions on the ground before talks. Kurmuk has changed hands several times between the SPLM-N and the Sudanese army (SAF) in the past, with Sudanese troops remaining in control of a number of important areas in Blue Nile state, where fighting flared in September 2011, shortly after the South seceded from its northern neighbour in July. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article45618 END5 6. "Stop the Planes"—Now! Eric Reeves, 23 February 2013 The plea could hardly be simpler, or more urgent: "Just stop the planes." This cry for help came from "Khadija," a woman interviewed by Amnesty International [posted on this Google group on 3rd February 2013] while standing in front of the bombed remains of her home in a small village in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan. "Just stop the planes." And yet more than twenty months after Khartoum launched its military assault on the Nuba people of South Kordofan, the bombing continues relentlessly. The same is true in neighboring Blue Nile State. And yet neither Amnesty International nor Human Rights Watch nor the International Crisis Group nor any other major organization analyzing and reporting on the situation in South Kordofan has proposed actions or policies that will oblige the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime in Khartoum to "stop the planes." In its latest analysis (February 14, 2013), besides offering the obvious urgings, ICG pleads for a comprehensive response to greater Sudan's interlocking crises. But its specific recommendation to non-Sudanese parties amounts to a referral to incompetence and ensures inaction— "To Members of the UN Security Council, AU Peace and Security Council, Council of the League of Arab States, and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the Government of Ethiopia: Demand and work for a single, comprehensive solution to Sudan’s multiple conflicts…." For its part, the Obama administration has for more than four years responded weakly and irresolutely to the crises most pressing in greater Sudan, including those in the Nuba and Blue Nile. The administration has done little more than tepidly condemn, with a weary repetitiveness of language, the bombing of civilians by Khartoum; certainly these "condemnations" have been without discernible effect. Khartoum's aerial attacks have been directed, relentlessly, against civilians in Darfur since 2003, in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan since June 2011, and in Blue Nile since September 2011. These areas are all in (northern) Sudan, but there have also been many attacks directed against civilians in South Sudan—bombings confirmed by UN investigators as well as journalists present during the attacks. On one occasion (November 2011) Khartoum's military attacked the Yida refugee camp, housing tens of thousands of civilians who had fled the Nuba for the relative safety of the South. One bomb landed just outside a school where hundreds of children had been in attendance (it malfunctioned); journalists for the BBC and Reuters were present at the time. The most recent bombings were in the Kiir Adem area of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal in November and December 2012, killing more than a dozen Southern civilians (including women and children) and wounding many more. Khartoum baldly denies all such attacks, despite confirmation my UN investigative teams and journalists who are eyewitnesses to these extraordinary violations of national sovereignty and international law. In the Nuba and Blue Nile, attacks have as their primary purpose not direct violent killings—though these occur frequently—but a relentless destruction of agricultural production in the regions. I spoke recently with Tom Catena, a courageous American physician who has functioned as the only surgeon in the Nuba Mountains since the beginning of conflict. The shrapnel wounds he has treated and photographed are stomach-turning, but they are also significant because of what they represent to the people of the Nuba (the Nuba are an African tribal grouping, who follow—with remarkable mutual accommodation—both Islam and Christianity). The ghastly shrapnel wounds and killings have instilled such fear that people are afraid to farm their lands, staying close to the shelter of caves, ravines, and rocky outcrops. The sorghum harvest this year—the staple crop of the region—was very poor, according to Dr. Catena. People in large numbers are on the verge of joining more than 200,000 refugees who have already fled to South Sudan and Ethiopia. Many spot nutritional surveys reveal Severe Acute Malnutrition above the emergency threshold; the most recent of these found a 30 percent Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate among children under five; this is double the international threshold for a humanitarian emergency (see below). Moreover, a frightening percentage of children under five are experiencing Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), a condition typically fatal without therapeutic intervention. Let us be perfectly clear: all this is intentional. It is a campaign of annihilation in response to military rebellion by the indigenous Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-North (SPLM/A-N). The SPLA-N has repeatedly mauled Khartoum's regular and militia forces, especially in the Nuba, and the response has been a systematic aerial campaign to destroy agricultural production. It is on the verge of success, as people are simply too fearful to plant, tend, or harvest most of their larger fields. At the same time, Khartoum maintains a complete humanitarian embargo on regions under rebel control (the great majority of territory in the Nuba). The weapon of choice is the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) Antonov "bomber." Of course the Antonov is not a military bomber, but rather a retrofitted Russian cargo plan from which crude but deadly barrel bombs are simply rolled out the cargo bay, spreading a hail of shrapnel in all directions on impact. The have no militarily purposeful precision, but they are extraordinarily efficient in creating civilian terror. Early on in the conflict, Khartoum also deployed Sukhoi-25 military jet aircraft, also based at el-Obeid, but Dr. Catena told me that the SAF has settled into a pattern of sufficient regularity with Antonovs to keep fear so high that people are unable to farm. Khartoum is presently concluding a deal with Ukraine to purchase five more Antonovs. The conspicuous precedent here is the genocidal campaign against the Nuba in the 1990s, which very nearly succeeded in destroying them. Current efforts are neither surprising not out of character for this regime. And yet former U.S. special envoy for Sudan Princeton Lyman, in a moment of outrageously ignorant presumption, declared in late June 2011 that, "Nuba Mountain people are fighting back and I don't think the North is capable of dislodging large numbers of people on an ethnic basis…. Second, I'm not sure that's the objective of the government." Lyman has been proved profoundly wrong on both counts of his assessment, and yet there has been no accountability for his egregious misjudgment, even as it sent to Khartoum a signal that has at the very least has prolonged and extended the bombing campaign. That the regime's goal is to "dislodge large numbers of people on an ethnic basis" certainly can no longer be doubted. As reported by Amnesty International, "Khadija" did not say "send troops to the Nuba," or even "send food," desperately hungry though her people are. She demanded only that the world "stop the planes"—and allow her and others to farm their lands. The Nuba are a fiercely independent people, but they have no way to "stop the planes" and resume agriculturally productive lives. Despite these cruel realities, all that has come from the Obama administration are perfunctory condemnations of Khartoum's aerial barbarism; here it has much company, including the UN, the EU, the African Union, and other regional and international actors of consequence. Indeed, so perfunctory have the "condemnations" been that they serve only to convince the regime it will pay no real price for these continued aerial assaults on civilians, all of which are war crimes—and which in aggregate constitute crimes against humanity as defined by the Rome Statute that is the treaty basis for the International Criminal Court. Many others—individuals and organizations—have called for an end to the bombings, but without offering politically or militarily realistic means for changing Khartoum's behavior. And until Khartoum is convinced it will pay an unacceptably high price for the bombings, they will continue. It's long past time to make unambiguously clear that this is intolerable, and that the planes will be stopped. What must be done After seeking what international support might be available (likely little), the Obama administration should issue an ultimatum: "Every time there is a confirmed aerial military attack on civilians in the Nuba Mountains or Blue Nile, we will destroy one of your military aircraft at the el-Obeid air base, using a cruise missile or other precision-guided ordnance. This will continue seriatim until the bombing stops." Khartoum will certainly test whether there is any resolve underlying the ultimatum—but will likely do so only once or twice. Their military aircraft are simply too valuable to them, and they have lost many over the past several years. If the attacks are carried out in the very early morning, chances for collateral damage are minimal. Firing from the Red Sea off Sudan's northeast coast would entail no violation of any other international border. A bold gambit? No doubt, but with a clear chance for success. Are there risks from retaliation by Khartoum? Certainly—and most likely such retaliation will be directed against those most vulnerable: international humanitarian efforts in various regions of Sudan. Contingency planning for any such retaliation must be serious and detailed. We should bear in mind, however, just how abusive of international humanitarian operations this regime has already been during its 24 years of tyranny. First in South Sudan during the UN-coordinated Operation Lifeline Sudan, where aid was constantly manipulated and the bombing of hospitals was routine (the Nuba was subject to a total humanitarian embargo, as both it and Blue Nile are today). Subsequently efforts in Darfur were targeted, where more than twenty major humanitarian organizations have been expelled or forced out of the region in the past four years, and those that remain have an increasingly tenuous presence outside the major urban areas. Further, just last year the regime expelled from eastern Sudan—one of the poorest and most marginalized of Sudan's peripheral regions—four international humanitarian organizations, including Save the Children/Sweden and Ireland's Goal. The reasons given were wholly factitious. Things could certainly be made worse, especially in Darfur; here the responsibility for confronting this challenge should fall to the large, extravagantly funded, and hopelessly ineffective UN/African Union Mission in Darfur. But it has proved so inept and ineffective that serious concerns must be registered about its adequacy to protect humanitarians (exceedingly few of whom are expatriate) and the UN's World Food Program food pipeline. A UN response should be forced by the U.S. and EU at the Security Council if Khartoum attacks humanitarian operations, either directly or through its militia proxies. There are considerable risks here. But the question is whether we are prepared to allow the people of the Nuba and Blue Nile to be held hostage to what this viciously resourceful regime might do, given the indisputable realities now prevailing in these regions. Here one would hope that the U.S. would find considerable international support in confronting men who are in fact serial génocidaires, and who feel comfortable using pressure on or violence against humanitarian relief efforts as a means of waging war. For those uneasy about the unilateral use of U.S. military power, a simple question must be answered: "with no other means of stopping the bombing of civilians and civilian agricultural production, how do you propose halting the attacks?" Cries of outrage are easy; committing to serious action is the hard part, and so far the Obama administration and others have shown no stomach for such seriousness. To be sure, President Obama last April convened an "Atrocities Prevention Board" with stirring words from his August 2011 Presidential Study Directive: "Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States. Our security is affected when masses of civilians are slaughtered, refugees flow across borders, and murderers wreak havoc on regional stability and livelihoods. America's reputation suffers, and our ability to bring about change is constrained, when we are perceived as idle in the face of mass atrocities and genocide. Unfortunately, history has taught us that our pursuit of a world where states do not systematically slaughter civilians will not come to fruition without concerted and coordinated effort." (Presidential Study Directive 10, August 4, 2011) But the "Board" so sanctimoniously announced has been inaccessible, inert, and indeed invisible. To date it has been an instrument of "atrocity prevention" in name only. But halting further atrocities in the Nuba and Blue Nile—and Darfur—can't be stopped by bureaucracy or committee; it can be accomplished only by actions that Khartoum takes seriously. No such actions have been proposed by the U.S. or any other international actor of consequence. Why we must act The UN estimated last October that almost 1 million people had been displaced or deeply imperiled by Khartoum's aerial campaign—almost 1 million people, and the number has surely grown significantly in the past four months. Moreover, a great many children, the elderly, the infirm, and others are simply too weak to make the arduous trek southward to join more than 200,000 others who have already fled to refugee camps in Unity State and Upper Nile State in South Sudan (tens of thousands of others have fled from Blue Nile into Ethiopia). Those who must remain will simply be waiting to starve if current circumstances continue to prevail. Dr. Catena witnessed a very poor sorghum harvest this November/December, and a great many people are fully prepared to move when their meager food supplies are exhausted. For over a year, accounts of people reduced to eating leaves, bark, and insects have become a commonplace in reports from both Blue Nile and the Nuba: • Declaring the situation "incredibly alarming," John Ging, director of operations for UN OCHA, declared last month of Blue Nile and South Kordofan: "nearly one million people are in dire need, but out of reach of aid workers, forcing some to rely on roots and leaves for food." (January 8, 2013) • Eight months ago reporter Tristan McConnell declared following a trip into the Nuba: "Without any crops, they've started eating leaves. To see a woman sitting down and cooking supper for her eight children and all she's got in the pot is a load of boiled leaves is just horrendous. That sort of thing just shouldn't happen." (PBS NewsHour, May 9, 2012) • Almost a year ago the warnings were fully explicit: "Local officials say the conflict [in the Nuba] has severely affected agricultural production, and estimate that the next harvest will be only 20 percent of normal, leaving most of the population dependent on outside aid. They warn that unless supplies are brought in within the next few weeks, the onset of the rains will make it virtually impossible to distribute the relief, just when the annual pre-harvest hungry season reaches its peak" (IRIN, March 22, 2012). Only minimal food aid was provided, and the 2012 sorghum harvest was even poorer than expected. • Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times reported from the Nuba last June: "Perhaps hundreds of thousands of people here have no food and are reduced to eating leaves and insects, as Sudan's government starves and bombs its own people in the Nuba Mountains. Children are beginning to die." • Mukesh Kapila, former UN humanitarian coordinator for all of Sudan and now working with Aegis Trust (UK), reported on the results of his second courageous assessment mission into the Nuba and Blue Nile regions: "Malnutrition rates in Sudan's war-torn border states have doubled to 30 percent as starving people, denied humanitarian aid, eat just one meal every three days, activists said on Friday as they urged the African Union (AU) to launch an inquiry into what they called 'crimes against humanity.' "'This is one of the world’s biggest humanitarian and human rights disasters,' said Mukesh Kapila of the Aegis Trust lobby group, which campaigns against genocide and crimes against humanity, after returning from a 10-day trip to the region. The 30 percent malnutrition rate refers to the percentage of children under five who are deemed to be critically malnourished. This is double the World Health Organisation's 15 percent emergency threshold for acute malnutrition, which should trigger a humanitarian response." (Reuters AlertNet [Nairobi], January 18, 2013) Given this exceedingly grim picture of malnutrition, plans for opening an emergency humanitarian corridor into both the Nuba and Blue Nile should begin immediately; indeed, such planning is long overdue. But these will require both security on the ground and protection from aerial assault. And for this, the world must first "stop the planes." END6 ______________________ 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. 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Communication on Southern Kordofan.docx
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