Nuba People of Sudan and Khartoum's Geneocidial Plan

The Nuba people of Sudan knew that key decisions were going to be made about their future, after the 2005 Peace Agreement. and they wanted a voice. Most of all they wanted self-determination, even as they knew that the Nuba Mountains were not only in the North but nowhere contiguous with what will become the Republic of South Sudan on July 9. Their fear was that they would be left alone in a North Sudan dominated by Khartoum’s ideological Islam and Arabism (the ethnically diverse African people of the Nuba follow a number of religions, including Islam). Their worst fears have been realized.

Historical memory in this part of Sudan is defined by the terrible experiences of the 1990s, when Khartoum mounted a full-scale genocidal assault on the people of the Nuba, killing and displacing hundreds of thousands. This was jihad, and it was based on a fatwah issued in Khartoum in January 1992. With this justification, a total humanitarian blockade was imposed on the region, and many starving people were driven into “peace camps,” where receiving food was conditional upon conversion to Islam; those refusing were often tortured or mutilated. It is hardly surprising that Deputy Governor Ismael Khamis would tell me bluntly, “Khartoum doesn’t regard us as human beings.”

And judging by the nature of the genocide that is rapidly developing in South Kordofan, there can be little quarreling with Khamis’ assessment. Clear patterns have emerged from the many scores of reports that have come to me from the region over the past two weeks. Human Rights Watch has confirmed that Khartoum’s regular military and militia are undertaking a campaign of house-to-house roundups of Nuba in the capital city of Kadugli. Many of these people are hauled away in cattle trucks or summarily executed; dead bodies reportedly litter the streets of Kadugli. The Nuba are also stopped at checkpoints grimly similar to those in Rwanda; those suspected of SPLM or “southern” political sympathies are arrested or shot. The real issue, however, is not political identity but Nuba ethnicity; one aid worker who recently escaped from South Kordofan reports militia forces patrolling further from Kadugli: “Those [Nuba] coming in are saying, ‘Whenever they see you are a black person, they kill you.’” Another Nuba aid worker reports that an Arab militia leader made clear that their orders were simple: “to just clear.”

Yet another Nuba resident of Kadugli (“Yusef”) told Agence France-Presse that he had been informed by a member of the notorious Popular Defense Forces (PDF) that they had been provided with plenty of weapons and ammunition, and a standing order: “‘He said that they had clear instructions: just sweep away the rubbish. If you see a Nuba, just clean it up. He told me he saw two trucks of people with their hands tied and blindfolded, driving out to where diggers were making holes for graves on the edge of town.’” There have been repeated reports, so far unconfirmed, of mass graves in and around Kadugli. We should hardly be surprised that the charges of “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” are coming ever more insistently from the Nuba people, observers on the ground and in the region, and church groups with strong ties to the region.

Just as shocking is Khartoum’s renewed blockade of humanitarian assistance to the people of the Nuba, hundreds of thousands of whom have already fled into the hills or mountainsides. The Kauda airstrip, critical for humanitarian transport, has been relentlessly bombed over the past ten days, and the UN now reports that it is no longer serviceable for fixed-wing aircraft. The airstrip has no military value, as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) forces have no aircraft. The concerted bombing, with high-explosives producing enormous craters, is simply to deny the Nuba food, medicine, and shelter.

(.......The same assault on humanitarian efforts is underway in Kadugli and other towns under Khartoum’s military control.

• The UN World Health Organization warehouse and offices in Kadugli have been completely looted, as have those of other UN humanitarian agencies.
• The Kadugli airport has been commandeered by Khartoum’s military forces, and all humanitarian flights into South Kordofan have been halted.
• The World Food Program has announced that it has no way to feed some 400,000 beneficiaries in South Kordofan.
• As in Darfur, Khartoum intends to wage a genocide by attrition—defeating the Nuba by starving them.

What Khartoum seems not to have fully understood is how determined the Nuba SPLA are.

• These are not southerners, but true sons of the Nuba; they cannot “return to the South,” because they are from the north.
• And they are well armed and well led by Abdel Aziz el-Hilu, a former governor of the region and fearsome military commander.
• They believe they are defending their homeland and their way of life. They have no alternative: as Khamis said to me during our 2003 meeting, “we have no way out.”

Given the geography of South Kordofan, there can be little quarreling with this assessment. These people will fight to the death.

Princeton Lyman, the U.S. special envoy, declared on June 16—eleven days after the killing began in Kadugli—that the United States “doesn’t have enough information on the ground to call the campaign ‘ethnic cleansing.’”

This is an astonishing claim, given what the UN is saying in its confidential reports on the situation in Kadugli, what Human Rights Watch has reported, what is revealed by satellite photography, what escaping aid workers have told journalists, and what is revealed by photographs of the bombing of the airstrip at Kauda.

Again, the airstrip has no military purpose: it is being attacked solely to deny humanitarian access to the Nuba people. And it is working: the World Council of Churches, an organization with close ties to the Nuba, reported on June 10 that as many as 300,000 people were besieged and cut off from humanitarian relief.

-Eric Reeves -6/22/11

The Rest @ Dissent Magazine

SPLM NCP Sign a Framework for discussions in Sudan

29 June 2011—(Khartoum) — The SPLM and the NCP on Tuesday signed a frame work agreement, in an attempt to resolve their differences and find a lasting peace in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

The agreement, signed in Addis Ababa, is to pave way for comprehensive political and security arrangements in the two areas.

A Sudanese intellectual and political analyst said that the accord between the two parties is a positive move towards peace and stability in the warring regions.

Doctor Omar Ahmed El-Garrai spoke to SRS from Khartoum on Wednesday.

[Omar al-Garrai]: "I think it is a good agreement and the talks were successful. It falls on the interest of all Sudanese people. I think the SPLM stance is strong in these talks, because the talks with the NCP come following the armed aggressions by the government on southern Kordofan state. In addition to that, the fear by the government that southern Kordofan might turn to an area of accountability such as what has happened in Darfur."

The NCP had earlier vowed not to negotiate with SPLM/SPLA in the north, and instead threatened to clear the SPLA forces in southern Kordofan.

Al-Garrai however said that the NCP’s move to sign the agreement is a show that the party is aware of the intensity of the atrocities committed in the area, and the price that the perpetrators are likely to pay in the end.

[Omar El-Garrai]: "For the NCP, if these talks succeed, it will be a big success for them, I think they will succeed in hiding a big crime that occurred in Southern Kordofan, whereby hundreds of people were killed and thousands fled their homes. It is better for the NCP to stop the political statements and threats and as well insistence of using force and rejecting to withdraw from Abyei and southern Kordofan. They had better reconsider their position and try to win in the diplomatic round after they tried the military round and did not even gain a tangible military win."

The agreement also stipulates that “any disarmament to the SPLA forces in the north shall be done in accordance with agreed upon plans and without resorting to force."

The SPLA from the two states are to be integrated into the northern army "over a period of time and with modalities to be agreed upon," or demobilized.

The agreement which was facilitated by the chief African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki, was signed by the chairman of the SPLM in the north Malik Agar and the presidential advisor Doctor Nafi Ali Nafi.

The Rest @ Sudan Radio

South Sudan Rebels Seem to Support Khartoum Interests

Khartoum may be creating a crisis in South Sudan to justify a future invasion to secure South Sudan's oil.

-Shimrom Issachar



April 22, 2011 (JUBA) – Northern Sudanese employees working at the oilfields of South Sudan’s Unity state have begun evacuating as fighting between the South Sudan army (SPLA) as rebel forces under the command of the renegade Peter Gatdet Yak, have intensified for the last four days in the state.

The rebel forces of Gatdet, known as the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), launched a series of heavy attacks this week since April 19, against the SPLA forces of Division Four in Mayom County in the state, resulting to the South Sudan army losing at least one town to the rebel group.

The minister of information in Unity state, Gideon Gatpan Thoar, told Sudan Tribune on Friday from the state capital, Bentiu, that the northern oil company employees were evacuated to Higlig area near the North-South border where the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) have deployed.

He said the workers could return to their stations any time, explaining that the decision was based on ensuring their safety in response to anger expressed by the state citizens against northerners whom they accuse of supporting renegade Peter Gatdet.

On Thursday in Khartoum, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Petroleum, Omer Mohamed Khair, confirmed the evacuation saying the 150 oil workers from north Sudan are to resume their work in the Unity state within 24 hours after the end of fighting.

Chinese diplomats in Juba have expressed concern to the Southern Sudanese authorities about the insecurity caused by the fighting and its implications in the oilfields operated by the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC). The Chinese Consul General in Juba this week said more than 200 northern Sudanese drillers and other staff have been asked to evacuate the area for safety reasons by the Unity state government
.
Bol Gatkuoth, former member of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly and the current spokesperson of Gatdets’s rebel group, claimed that the SSLA captured Guong on 19 April, and captured Mankien on 21 April, after two separate clashes with the SPLA forces in the state.

Officials of Unity state, including the commissioner of Mayom county, reportedly confirmed the capture of the two towns by the rebel group.

However, SPLA spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer, denied the claim that the second town, Mankien, fell to the rebels. No casualties were reported by both sides.

• The rebels claim to seek control of strategic locations in the state to establish a base in the renegade General’s home county, Mayom, from which to command his rebellion against Juba.


• South Sudan officials suspect that the militia group wants to create a corridor supply route and weapons and ammunitions from Khartoum to their base in Mayom from which to expand their targets into other areas in the region.


• The rebel force of Peter Gatdet is one among the seven other different rebel groups fighting against the government. They are based in Jonglei, Upper Nile, Unity and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states.


• They claim to be fighting for democracy and justice and against tribalism and corruption.


• Most groups began their rebellion due to grievances caused by elections last year but others who were not part of the SPLA in the past like the SSLA accused the South Sudan government of corruption and tribalism.


• The South Sudan government rejects the accusations and claim that Gatdet is being backed by Khartoum.

The United Nations Security Council briefing on Thursday on the situation in Sudan raised concern about the increasing violence in South Sudan ahead of formal independence on July 9.

In January the South voted to secede in a plebiscite agreed as part of a 2005 peace deal that ended over two decades of conflict.

The 15-member UN body was briefed by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Atul Khare, who told the Council that a number of internal grievances which might have contributed to the rebellion needed to be addressed in South Sudan.

The UN official’s presentation further highlighted the need to address "ethnic tensions, mismanagement, political and social marginalization, economic development and governance, especially in rule of law institutions ".

The Rest @ The Sudan Tribune

Sudan- 200 Killed in SPLA - George Athor Battles

February 16, 2011 (KHATOUM - JUBA) – North Sudan's army has denied accusations of supporting insurgents in South Sudan with the intent of destabilizing the region ahead of its formal independence in July this year.

Clashes erupted last week between South Sudan's army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and militiamen loyal to its renegade general George Athor around the towns of Fangak and Bor in Jonglei state. Southern officials said more than 200 people, including civilians, had died as a result.

The attacks raised concerns about the future of South Sudan which is being groomed to become formally independent in July this year after it massively voted for secession from the north in a referendum last month.

In a press conference on Wednesday, the minister of peace and implementation of the 2005 peace deal that granted the South the right to secede, Pagan Amum, said the Government of Southern Sudan was not overwhelmed by insecurity in South Sudan.

Amum, who also serves as the SPLM's secretary general, said that the situation was being managed and accused Sudan's ruling the National Congress party (NCP) of arming the militia groups such as the forces of George Athor in Jonglei state and Gabriel Tanginya (AKA Tang) in Upper Nile.

• Amum said Athor's militias were also supplied with arms by the National Congress Party in Khartoum to destabilize South Sudan.
• He warned the NCP against the strategy of destabilization of the two soon-to-be independent states of North and South Sudan.
• Amum said the Government of Southern Sudan was ready to receive and integrate into its organized forces all the rebelled forces and militias, in the region in order to achieve security and stability.
• North Sudan's army has denied the south's accusations, claiming it was a cover-up of the South's support of Darfur rebels.

In a statement released to the press on Wednesday, the official spokesman of Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa'ad, said that the SPLA's accusation come as a “justification” of the South's unlimited support to Darfur rebels who continue “up to this moment” their rebellions from bases they setup southward of 1956 border.

The 1956 border strip marks the North-South borders as they stood when Sudan declared independence from British-Egyptian condominium rule in that year.

North Sudan has consistently accused the south of supporting rebels in its western region of Darfur, where an eight-year conflict between government and ethnic rebels killed more than 300,000 people and displace 2.7 million since it erupted in 2003.

Minni Arkoi Minawi, who is the only Darfur rebel leader to have signed a peace accord with Khartoum in Abuja in 2006, is currently based in the South.

The SAF's statement asserted that it was committed to refrain from supporting any insurgency in neighboring countries, whether in the south or elsewhere, saying that the area from which Athor launches his operations was geographically remote from the North-South border.

Athor broke ranks with the SPLA and led a rebellion in the south since he lost gubernatorial elections in the Unity state to the SPLM's candidate in April last year.

In the same vein, Pagan Amum claimed that Tanginya and his forces came from Khartoum in January with trucks full of weapons and ammunition. He said according to NCP, Tanginya defected from them with the vehicles and weapons, but added that the trucks had traveled from Khartoum to South Sudan's Upper Nile state without being stopped on the way.

In Upper Nile Tanginya's forces form part of the Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) created after the 2005 peace deal. JIUs consist of elements from the Khartoum-controlled Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Southern army (SPLA).

However, instead of using regular forces for the SAF contingent of the JIUs in Upper Nile many of the soldiers were taken from Tanginya's militia, which sided with Khartoum during the North-South civil war.

As the South approaches independence JIU's are due to be disbanded and the SAF components moved North.

Late last year Tanginya signed a peace deal with the Southern government, agreeing to integrate his forces into the SPLA. However, many of Tanginya's units remained as the SAF contigent of JIU's in Upper Nile and in early February in fighting between his men in Malakal and others areas caused tens of deaths.

The fighting is believed to have broken out between rival groups within the Tanginya's forces, with some wanting to remain in the South, while others wanted to follow the order they had received to move North.

The clashes, reportedly left his forces in control of many bases of the Northern SAF's JIUs.

The Rest @ Sudan Tribune

North Sudan Reports Alignment in South Sudan Defense Forces

By Ngor Arol Garang

January 21, 2011 (ABYEI) - A top military officer from South Sudan's army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), on Friday denied media reports that they have signed an agreement with an armed militia group in the regional capital of Juba earlier this week.

On Wednesday, the Khartoum-based Arabic daily, Al Ahram, reported that a political agreement was inked on in Juba between the SPLA and the militias of South Sudan Defense Forces, saying the latter was represented by Ashwang Arop.

However, colonel Phillip Aguer Panyang, spokesman of the Sudan People's Liberation Army in an interview with Sudan Tribune from the regional capital of Juba on Friday denied knowing any armed group called south Sudan defensive with which they have signed an agreement.

"No, we did not sign any agreement with any armed group this week. I am also not aware of the existence of any armed group called South Sudan Defense Forces. Who did they say was their leader?," asked Aguer.

The military officer said there are media in the north accustomed to manufacturing false information and conflicting reports against the Government of South Sudan, since it was formed in 2005.

• The SPLA became the south's official army as part of a 2005 peace deal, which ended decades of civil war between north and south.
• As part of the deal the south has just completed a referendum, which is expected to see the south separate from the north to form a new nation by July.
• Many in the north are not happy that the oil-rich south is separating.
  

"There are media are in the north accustomed to manufacturing false information and conflicting reports against the government of south and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. This is one of them. They say anything without proof just to cause confusion with intention to create conflict," said Aguer.

He called on the media to be responsible and seek clarifications on unclear information and reports from concerned authorities before rushing it out to the public.

"There seems to be no responsible media in the north. They appear to have lost ethnics. Their reporting does not show any sense of responsibility. They are always bias in their reports about South Sudan and particularly when it comes to issues concerning SPLA," said Aguer.

The officer said a responsible media should always conduct proper verifications of any information obtained from their sources. "A responsible media must conduct proper verifications of any information they received from their sources before publishing it."

In 2006 the SPLA and SSDF signed the Juba declaration incorporating the SSDF into the SPLA, which under the peace deal was the only legal army in the south.

As part of the deal Paulino Matip became the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA.

The Rest @ Sudan Tribune

SPLA Withdrawing as Agreed

Khartoum25 July 2007 (Sudan Radio Service)

The governor of Blue Nile state has refuted claims by the Sudan Armed Forces that many SPLA troops remain in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states.
Malik Agar Ayar, Blue Nile Governor and SPLM Northern Sector Deputy Secretary General, told journalists in Khartoum that most SPLA troops in Blue Nile and southern Kordofan were re-deployed out of those states before July 9th. He added that the only forces remaining in the two states are part of the Joint Integrated Units, or JIU’s.

[Malik Agar]: “What I know about the SPLA forces in Blue Nile is that there are no soldiers remaining in Blue Nile apart from the JIU forces, since the 9th of this month. We have evacuated any soldier that does not belong to the JIU from Blue Nile and it was witnessed by many people and even army generals from the general headquarters of the SAF. Teams from the United Nations were present there. Even as I am talking to you now, there is a team from the UN going to Blue Nile to check the troops. In Southern Kordofan the same thing happened. What we are saying is that re-deployment of SPLA troops has exceeded eighty percent.”

Mr. Agar said the re-deployment of troops was done according to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

However, the United Nations Mission in Sudan says that the SPLA has not completed its withdrawal from Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. The UN’s Miraya Radio quotes the UN force commander, Lieutenant General Jasbir Lidder, as saying on Monday that the SPLA has started withdrawing its forces from the two regions, but some troops are still there.

General Lidder said that a UN monitoring team is in those regions to verify the current situation on the ground.

Sudan Armed Forces spokesperson Mohammed Al-Agbash stressed that the SAF will not redeploy its 3,600 troops from oil rich areas in Upper Nile state until the SPLA does the same.

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