U.S warns of Sudan’s South Kordofan contagion
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August 10, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The United States on Wednesday expressed
alarm over a potential spillover from the ongoing turmoil in Sudan’s
border state of South Kordofan into the newly independent state of
South Sudan.
JPEG - 27.9 kb
Newly appointed U.S. special envoy for Sudan Princeton Lyman speaks
during a joint news conference with Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti
in Khartoum April 6, 2011 (REUTERS PICTURES)
South Sudan, which declared independence from the north last month,
has already been affected by the fighting in South Kordofan after
thousands of refugees traversed the borders into the south’s northern
frontier of Unity State.
Fighting in the volatile state of South Kordofan erupted in early
January between Sudan army and rebels affiliated with the indigenous
Nuba population which largely sided with the south during Sudan’s
north-south second civil war from 1983-2005.
Princeton Lyman, US special envoy to Sudan, warned in a news
conference on the internet on Wednesday that South Kordofan fighting
could spread to engulf South Sudan.
"I think that the danger in the fighting in South Kordofan is that it
could indeed spread to other parts of the Nuba mountains or of the
Blue Nile," he said, warning that it "could involve the south because
there are links from the civil war between elements in the south and
the people fighting in South Kordofan."
South Kordofan is part of north Sudan but the region was promised -
under the 2005’s deal that ended Sudan’s north-south war - to hold
popular consultation to gauge the level of local satisfaction with the
deal’s implementation and how governance relationship with Khartoum
should be reorganized.
Sudan on Tuesday said that Washington and Paris had failed to rally
members of the UN Security Council holding a meeting on South Kordofan
to issue a statement calling for ceasefire in the area.
However, the US diplomat said he was “sure” the issue would be opened
for discussion again.
Lyman went on to castigate the Sudanese government’s conduct of South
Kordofan war, saying “it violates the standards of war in the 21st
century."
He cited the "bombing of civilian targets, taking people out of their
homes, possible extrajudicial killings."
Sudan alleges that the South is providing logistical support to its
erstwhile allied rebels in the Nuba Mountains, a charge the south
denies.
Similarly, the European Union expressed concern over continued
fighting and reports of abuses in South Kordofan.
A statement issued on Wednesday by the EU’s foreign policy chief,
Catherine Ashton, said that the continental body remains “gravely
concerned about continued fighting in Southern Kordofan state and
disturbing reports of further widespread human rights violations.”
Activists liken Khartoum’s heavy-handed approach to South Kordofan’s
insurgency to that of its approach to the early stages of the
rebellion in the western region of Darfur.
In response to the outbreak of rebellion in Darfur in 2003, Khartoum
orchestrated an abusive counterinsurgency campaign blamed for killing
and creating dire humanitarian conditions responsible for the death of
300,000 people and displacement of 2.7 million, according to UN
figures.
(ST)
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