---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 11:13 PM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Khartoum government cleanses Nuba Mountains To: Group <[email protected]>
1. KHARTOUM GOVERNMENT CLEANSES NUBA MOUNTAINS Wednesday, 27 February 2013 06:40 | Catholic Radio Network The Government of Sudan is engaged in cleansing Nuba Mountains and Kauda and Umbbrian are the worst hit areas by airstrikes provoking displacement, hunger and death among civilians. The alert comes from the Sudan Council of Churches who received reports from two South Kordofan’s clerics. Acting General Secretary Mark Akec Cien wrote in a Communication on the Situation in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan State that CRN received via e-mail that Sudanese Government warplanes keep on killing civilians by dropping bombs over towns and settlements. There are no humanitarian agencies working in the area and due to lack of insecurity rain last year, the scattered populations are starving to death across the State. The communication says that in the stable parts of the State, few primary schools are operating with support from the communities but the enrolment is only boys because girls are being prevented by their families for safety. The clerics appealed for immediate help of food, health, education and clean water. http://catholicradionetwork.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9480:khartoum-government-cleanses-nuba-mountains&catid=2:south-sudan&Itemid=84 END1 2. Nuba Reports : Daily life : 26/02 02/26/2013 - 09:36 am On Febuary 26, 2013 at 9:45am, Nuba Reports journalist Ahmed Khatir, witnessed an Antonov plane drop 5 bombs in the area surrounding Buram market. One of the bombs landed directly in the market, igniting the shops and killing Amal Abu Majid, age 28 and Mohamadeen Ahmed, age 36. Five other civilians were injured in the bombing, including civilian Hassan Bakhit, who has a severe head wound. People in Kauda claim they witnessed 2 bombs being dropped near the Kauda airstrip earlier in the morning. END2 3. NUBA MOUNTAINS WOMEN LEARN PROTECTION FROM AIRSTRIKES Wednesday, 27 February 2013 13:24 | Catholic Radio Network Women from Kumbur Payam of Heiban County in Nuba Mountains are taking part in a workshop to learn how to keep themselves and their children safe during aerial attacks by Sudanese warplanes. Mary E, secretary for Social Care for Women in Kumbur Payam, said the workshop was necessary because women and children were the biggest victims of SAF’s bombings. She said the workshop taught women how to dig trenches to hide whenever they hear the sound of an approaching Antonov. Mary added that personal and environmental health, traditional medicine and violence against women were other issues being addressed at the workshop. She alerted for the disposal of plastic bags that can endanger domestic animals. Mary said a healthy environment led to a healthy life and to a healthy community. http://catholicradionetwork.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9481:nuba-mountains-women-learn-protection-from-airstrikes&catid=2:south-sudan&Itemid=84 END3 4. Five Civilians Killed in Heiban County Antonov Bombing: South Kordofan Sees Deadliest Attack of 2013 Nuba Reports 02/23/2013 - 06:07 pm Yassin Hassen Five civilians were killed and one wounded near Heiban last Sunday in South Kordofan’s deadliest aerial bombardment of the new year. The attack took place around 6:00 PM, when an Antonov airplane dropped nine bombs on Ngortang village in Heiban County. The victims are the first civilians confirmed killed by aerial bombardment since January 13th, when a one-year-old child was killed after five bombs were dropped in the Tess area. One eyewitness who spoke with Nuba Reports said Sunday’s bombs fell in an area where residents were collecting locusts nesting in the trees. Every year people in South Kordofan gather in several locations –including Ngortang – to pick seasonal locusts to supplement their food stocks. The locusts are becoming an increasingly important source of food as harvests in the region decline. The eyewitness told Nuba Reports that many did not have time to climb down from the trees before the bombs hit. Three of the victims were killed instantly. The other three were transported to the German Emergency Doctors (GED) Hospital outside Kauda where they received initial treatment before being sent to Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidele for further care. The main hospital in Heiban has not received medical supplies for about ten months and was unable to receive the wounded. According to doctors at Mother of Mercy Hospital, two victims – a forty-year-old woman and a five-year-old boy – died several days later of their injuries. Another five-year-old victim is currently being treated for his injuries at Mother of Mercy Hospital. According to Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North Spokesman Arnu Ngutullu Lodi, the others killed were an eight-year-old girl, a two-year-old boy and a thirty-two-year-old woman. Since the beginning of 2013, Nuba Reports has recorded over 100 bombs dropped in civilian areas. At least seven civilians have been killed and fifteen wounded in those bombings. END4 5. Nuba Mountains: Caught between bombardment and basic education by Chatika Amoja | The Niles | 26.02.2013 KAUDA - The ongoing bombing of South Kordofan villages is scaring pupils away from school -- many are too afraid to sit exams. In December, basic education exams went ahead in all areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), despite the continued bombing of villages and towns in the Nuba Mountains. Some students walked around 600 kilometres to attend the examination centre at Kauda, Eastern South Kordofan. Others skipped their examinations because their parents feared aerial bombardment. More than 700 pupils took part, a third of the group were girls. Following the exam, relief was widespread. Rogina Jamal, a 14-year-old pupil could not believe the test had ended peacefully. “We spent the school year haunted by anxiety, fear, and extreme panic due to aerial bombardment,” she said. “We used to run for shelter everyday whenever we saw planes flying overhead. Some of my fellow students died during aerial bombing and other girls could not attend the examination centres for fear of being hit by the bombs dropped by Khartoum government’s planes.” She said that her school sometimes closed for a week because of the air strikes. “I want to continue my studies despite all these circumstances,” she said, adding that she wanted to train as a doctor because many people die given a lack of medical staff in the region. The Head of Examinations Committee Yacoub Osman Kaloka said a total of 211 students missed their exams due to intensive aerial shelling of their regions. Kaloka appealed to the international community to determine a no-fly zone to end people’s suffering. Students took their exams according to the Kenyan curriculum and the North curriculum by Khartoum Central Government. The English language is the official teaching language at schools controlled by SPLM-N. Acting Head of Education Coty Ernesto called on civil society organisations to provide urgent assistance for schools, outlining a shortage of school equipment and teaching aids. He was determined that education would resume in the next school year despite ongoing aerial attacks which destroyed a number of schools. “A number of students who studied at those regions were admitted at East African universities,” he said proudly. Fighting between the Government of Sudan and SPLM-North in the South Kordofan region has wrought havoc in the region since June 2011, when the bombardment started at Umm Doreen, 25 kilometres from the regional capital, Kadugli. Khartoum government’s attacks on civilians in Nuba Mountains and on all regions inhabited by the indigenous Nubas “may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and are creating a humanitarian crisis,” according to Human Rights Watch report published last May. The continued bombing has sparked a humanitarian crisis and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, according to Professor Neron Philip Aju, the humanitarian affairs official in SPLM-North. International Crisis Group’s report dated 14 February highlights the lack of independent data available on the humanitarian crisis in South Kordofan. It mentions that the available figures released by SPLM-N put the number of vulnerable people in rebels-held regions at 736,000 including 436,000 displaced people. That contrasts with figures from the Sudanese government. It puts the number of displaced people at 42,150 while the Head of Yida Refugee Camp in South Sudan’s Unity State Simon Kalu said 67,000 displaced live in the camp. http://www.theniles.org/articles/?id=1718 مستقبل أبناء جبال النوبة: القصف الجوي وامتحانات الأساس! جاتيكا أموجا | 16.02.2013 كودا - يهدد القصف الجوي على مناطق وقرى جنوب كردفان مستقبل شباب المنطقة، حيث أن العديد منهم يتغيب عن الدراسة أو الامتحانات بسبب خوف أوليائهم من العنف. نجحت إدارة التعليم في المناطق التي تسيطر عليها الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان في تنظيم أمتحانات لتلاميذ مرحلة الأساس بين يومي الربع والسادس من ديسمبر 2012، رغم القصف الجوي المستمر علي كافة قرى ومدن جبال النوبة. النيلان | جاتيكا أموجافالتلاميذ جلسوا للامتحانات بالمنهج الكيني وهو منهج معتمد بجانب منهج الشمال من قبل الحكومة المركزية في الخرطوم. وتعتبر اللغة الانجليزية هي لغة التدريس في المدارس التي تقع تحت سيطرة الحركة الشعبية. ويقول رئيس لجنة الامتحانات يعقوب عثمان كالوكا لـ ’النيلان‘ أن 786 طالب بينهم 276 تلميذة جلسوا للامتحانات مرحلة الأساس وفق المنهج الكيني هذا العام، بينما تغيب 211 تلميذ عن الامتحانات بسبب الظروف الأمنية واستمرار القصف الجوي بكثافة على مناطقهم. وأشار كالوكا إلى أن 76 معلم تلقوا دورة تدريبية في إدارة الامتحانات والمراقبة وضبط عمليات الغش قبل شهر من بداية الامتحانات، الأمر الذي ساعد علي نجاح العملية. وأكد كالوكا أن بعض التلاميذ وصلوا إلى مركز الامتحانات بعد عن قطعوا مسافة 600 كيلو مشياً بالأرجل، للوضول االى مركز الامتحانات في كودا، شرق ولاية جنوب كردفان، وأن بعض الأسر رفضوا لأبنائهم الذهاب إلى المراكز خوفاً من القصف الجوي. وناشد رئيس لجنة الامتحانات المجتمع الدولي بضرورة التدخل وإقامة منطقة حظر جوي لإنهاء مأساة المواطنين. ومن جهته طالب مدير التعليم بالإنابة كوتي أرنستو منظمات المجتمع المدني بتقديم مساعدات عاجلة للمدارس، حتى يتمكن التلاميذ من مواصلة الدراسة. وكشف عن نقص حاد في الادوات المدرسية بجانب وسائل التدريس، وقال لـ ’النيلان‘ أن أدارة التعليم تعمل علي مواصلة العام الدراسي رغم أستمرار القصف الجوي الذي دمر عدد من المدارس. وأضاف أن ”عددا من التلاميذ ممن درس في هذه المناطق التحقوا بجامعات في دول شرق إفريقيا“، مؤكداً جاهزية إدارته لتنظيم امتحانات مرحلة الأساس دون أن يكشف عن مكان وموعد هذه الامتحانات. ولم تصدق التلميذة روجينا جمال البالغة من العمر 14 عاماً أن تكون الامتحانات قد أنتهت بسلام، وقالت: ”أمضينا العام الدارسي بقلق وخوف وذعر شديد بسبب القصف الجوي“. وأضافت: ”كنا نركض نحو (الكراكير) و(الخيران) بشكل يومي كلما شاهدنا الطائرات تحلق في سماء المنطقة“، وزادت بحسرة ”بعض زملائي ماتوا نتيجة للقصف الجوي، وبعض التلميذات لم يتمكنّ من الحضور الى مراكز الامتحانات خوفاً من القنابل التي تسقطها طائرات حكومة الخرطوم.“ وتواصل روجينا الحديث: ”أرغب في مواصلة الدراسة رغم كل الظروف وأمنيتي أن أصبح طبيبة، فأهلي يموتون بسبب نقص الكوادر الطبية في المنطقة“. وتؤكد روجينا أن الدراسة في بعض الأحيان تتوقف لمدة أسبوعاً كامل نتيجة للقصف الجوي. تبقت فقط أربعة أشهور لتكمل الحرب بين حكومة السودان والحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان - شمال في إقليم جنوب كردفان عامها الثاني. ففي السادس من يونيو عام 2011، انطلقت أول رصاصة للحرب بمنطقة أم دورين، التي تقع على بعدُ 25 كيلومتر من عاصمة الأقليم كادوقلي. ويتّهم الناطق باسم الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان - شمال أرنو نقوتلو لودي حكومة الخرطوم بإشعال الحرب في المنطقة لفرض واقع جديد، بعد تزوير الانتخابات الولائية التي جرت في مايو 2011. ومهما كانت الأسباب والمبررات، فإن أستهداف حكومة الخرطوم للمدنيين في جبال النوبة واستمرار القصف الجوي على كافة المناطق التي تقطنها أثنية النوبة (السكان الأصليين للمنطقة) ”ربما ترقى إلى جرائم حرب وجرائم ضد الإنسانية، كما انها تسببت في مأساة إنسانية“ بحسب تقرير نشرته منظمة ’هيومن رايتس ووتش‘ في مايو من العام الماضي. القصف الجوي المستمر أنتج أزمة إنسانية مستفحلة، وشرد نحو 432 ألف مواطن حسب الأستاذ نيرون فليب أجو مسئول الشئون الإنسانية في الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان - شمال. تقرير مجموعة الأزمات الدولية بتاريخ 14 فبراير الجاري يقول أن هناك نقص في البيانات المستقلة حول الأزمة الإنسانية في جنوب كردفان، لأرقام الموجودة تعود للحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان - شمال التي تقول أن 736.000 شخصا هم من ضعفاء ويحتاجون إلى المساعدة داخل مناطق المتمردين، بما في ذلك 436.000 نازح. الحكومة السودانية تضع هذا الرقم علي مستوى أقل وتقول أن عدد النازحين لا يتعدى 42.150. ويقول رئيس معسكر ييدا للنازحين بولاية الوحدة في جنوب السودان سايمون كالو أن 67 ألف من النازحين متواجدين بالمعسكر. http://www.theniles.org/articles/index-ar.php?id=1698 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 "sudan-john-ashworth" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
