More evidence of killing of civilians in south Sudan

As I reported on Saturday, reports from Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, spoke of soldiers going house to house, pulling out Nuba men for detention or worse. Now, there is more evidence that the ethnic Nuba people who voted for the secession of the south of the country, are being targeted by the Khartoum government.

We drove up to the border area to find those who’ve fled to South Sudan, a new country which will get its independence from the north on Saturday.

In the village of Panyang we found a group of men who’d escaped the town of Kadugli, terrified of Sudanese government soldiers.

“This is the new Darfur, a cruel conflict in which the Sudanese government shows no mercy”

One told us: “These people are creating war. They’re entering our homes, killing and shooting us.

“Really, very many have died. That is why I’m here. Many are hiding in the bush. No-one has remained in town.”

Nuba soldiers fighting back

Some of the refugees have walked for days from the heart of the Nuba Mountains, but others have come from just two hours up the road, a place called Jaw. It’s actually in South Sudan but the northern government is bombing it nonetheless. That doesn’t augur well for this new nation and relations with its northern neighbour.

They’ve come to a place which has scarcely enough to sustain its own people. South Sudan has endured decades of war with the north – the fear is that renewed conflict in the Nuba Mountains will spill over the border.

Nuba soldiers are fighting back. After South Sudan’s independence, they were meant to join the northern army but they’ve rebelled. They’re seizing government weapons and ammunition in battle, and say they want to rule themselves. The Sudanese government says they must be crushed.

It seems the government in Khartoum has decided that force is the only way to deal with a people who resent its authority. Next week South Sudan will celebrate Independence. The Nuba know they won’t get Independence but they’d like more autonomy.
Lindsey Hilsum blogs on the fallout from secession as south Sudan prepares for independence

‘Three of the dead were children’ – eyewitness

A man who says he is a baker from Jaw told us: “First the Antonov just flew overhead, and then it returned and bombed us. Then everyone ran to hide.

“I could see the plane with my own eyes. After the bombing, I went to see if people were still in their houses but they had all fled, so I fled too.

“Three of the dead were children. There was an older person, one of my age, and another around 11 or 12. One was cut in half and his guts were spilling out.”

In Panyang, the refugees are struggling to survive. This is the new Darfur, a cruel conflict, in which the Sudanese government shows no mercy, as it tries to subdue its own citizens.