South Sudan "feels pain" of fighting in S. Kordofan Article Comments (10) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 12, 2011 (MALAKAL) – A South Sudanese official on Friday said is feeling the pain of the ongoing fighting in Southern Kordofan State. She further said would appreciate international intervention to stop what it described as massive killing of the Nuba ethnic group. residents gather outside the UNMIS sector headquarters after fleeing fighting in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, Sudan Thursday, June 9, 2011. Groups from the Nuba Mountains in the Sudanese state of Southern Kordofan fought with South Sudanese against the Khartoum government for nearly two decades. Just before South Sudan became independent on July 9 this year, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement- North (SPLM-N) led by Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu. "As people and government, we are feeling the pain of the fighting that is going on in Southern Kordofan," said Andrea Maya, a deputy governor of the neighbouring Upper Nile state. Maya, who was speaking at Malakal airport on Friday, accused the Sudanese of political "negligence and racial marginalization" against Sudanese nationals in Southern Kordofan and in Blue Nile states. The two states were granted special dispensation under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 but the popular consultations to express their own demands and to analyse whether the CPA addressed their grievances have not been completed. "The government in Khartoum is indeed responsible for the fighting which is continuing in the Southern Kordofan, the deputy governor affirmed. "It wanted to disarm forces of SPLM-N who were part of the joint integrated unit created by the CPA to be deployed in the transitional areas," explained Maya. She further pinpointed that that the joint units were supposed to remain in place there to support the conduct of popular consultation. But the Sudanese army were preparing to disarm them before the end of the process. The senior state official reported that Upper Nile has received and is providing assistance to 360 refugees from the troubled area of Southern Kordofan. South Sudan became the world’s newest nation July 9 and later the 193rd member of the United Nations. The independence came out as part of a peace agreement reached in 2005 that ended a brutal civil war in Sudan. The former United Nations Mission in Sudan has expressed concern about violence along the borderlines and possibilities of spreading it to the new state of South Sudan. A Different sources including a leaked UN human rights report say that there were signs indicating that members of the Nuba ethnic community were being targeted by the Sudan Armed Forces and their allied militias. Khartoum accuse Juba of supporting Kordofan’s rebellion as the international community expression fears that the ongoing conflict in the volatile area might spread into the newly independent state of South Sudan. Around 70,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. It is unclear how many have died due to the lack of access accorded to journalists and humanitarian workers. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" 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.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
