---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 11:11 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] More on Yida bombing To: Group <[email protected]>
1. S. Sudan’s Kiir rules out return to war with north By Julius N. Uma November 10, 2011 (JUBA) - South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir on Thursday ruled out the possibility of a return to war with the north and urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to intervene regarding Khartoum’s recent threats to invade the south. Addressing diplomats, the international community and the media in Juba, the South Sudan capital, Kiir described recent accusations by Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir, alleging that the south was supplying arms to opposition groups in Sudan as provocative. In response, however, the Sudanese government, on Saturday, announced that it had lodged a complaint with the UNSC against its southern neighbour based on allegations it supporting rebellions in Darfur, South Kordofan and Southern Blue Nile. In 2005 north and South Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) a deal which ended more than two decades of civil war and setting a path which led to South Sudan’s independence in July 2011. This is the second time since August that Khartoum has filed a complaint against South Sudan with the UNSC, just three month after the latter declared its independence. “We categorically reject these claims to be utterly baseless and malicious,” said Kiir. The President also dismissed as “totally unfounded” recent claims by the northern government that South Sudan was hosting opposition forces that fled as a result of intense fighting in Blue Nile’s Sali area. According to Kiir, those who fled the fighting were mainly legitimate refugees in search of safety. He appealed to the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to the estimated 1,000 civilians displaced in the border areas of Renk. “It is surprising that Sudan as a member of the United Nations has arrogated itself to threaten the sovereignty of the Republic of South Sudan through military invasion. This is an issue of grave concern and contradicts the spirit of the CPA,” he said. The South Sudan leader largely blamed his northern counterpart for his reluctance to have outstanding post-CPA issues resolved, citing issues like the north-south border demarcation, Abyei referendum and popular consultations in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. “It is unfortunate that even if we have agreed to demarcate the border between the two states, Khartoum remains resolutely opposed to any process that would lead to a peaceful resolution of the dispute over a number of contested border areas,” he remarked. On the disputed oil-producing Abyei region, Kiir said its illegal occupation by northern forces-SAF and refusal to withdraw as a UNSC requirement, remains a potential threat to regional peace and security. Kiir strongly condemned Wednesday’s incident in which northern war planes reportedly bombarded Guffa village in North Eastern Upper Nile state, killing seven people. “We are committed to peaceful resolutions to any conflict but we will never allow our sovereignty to be violated by anybody,” he remarked. The US embassy in South Sudan, on Wednesday, issued a strong statement condemning "in the strongest possible terms" the incident in what analyst largely view as a culmination of renewed tension between the two neighboring nations. It also stated that that "Indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilian targets always is unacceptable and unjustified" and expressed concern that the attacks "increase the potential of direct confrontation between Sudan and South Sudan." (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/S-Sudan-s-Kiir-rules-out-return-to,40688 END1 2. From an international observer on the ground: "RE: Incident at Yida camp At approximately 2 pm, the UN M-26 helicopter landed with 12 mt of WFP food at the Yida airstrip. As the helicopter was being unloaded, we heard an antonov pass overhead. It was at a few thousand feed and hard to spot in the sky. The M-26 finished unloading and took off. As it was taking off, a UN Mi-8 helicopter approached the field to land. As the Mi-8 was landing, the antonov passed over again, this time lower. When the antonov was directly over the camp, it dropped bombs. These first explosions were closer to the airstrip to the south and east. There was a lull for a few minutes and the antonov made a second pass, with the explosion happening south and west (closer to the camp). It made another pass after that but no additional explosions were heard. This makes 4 passes by the antonov over the camp, two of which bombs were dropped. The UN MI-8 stayed on the ground for 45 min to an hour after the bombs stopped before it took off, waiting for the aid workers who wanted to evacuate. No injuries or deaths have been reported. All [international] staff have evacuated. X and Y are currently the only NGO’s on the ground... this leaves [xxxxx] as the only nurse/medical officer in the camp. Nutrition should be able to continue with only national staff... A few of the members of the camp population gathered into a mob and went looking for staff members of UNHCR, accusing them of organizing the bombing to force them to leave Yida. I have visited two of the places where the bombs hit. One location is approximately 200 meters [from] the [xxx] compound. There was a 1 meter sq crater at this location that was approximately .5 m deep. There was a 10 meter circumference around the crater where all the grass had been stripped and another 50 meters past was totally burned. Some trees were cut in half or mangled, but no people live in that area. The other location was in the middle of the camp where all the primary school student live and study. The bomb came down through a tree and knocked a big limb to the ground, hitting the back of a house. It sank into the ground, but did not explode. The Counsel has requested SPLA assistance in removing this unexploded bomb. The other bombed sites are farther outside of the camp and we will visit them tomorrow." END2 3. Plane bombs South Sudan refugee camp - witness Thu Nov 10, 2011 2:45pm GMT YIDA CAMP, South Sudan Nov 10 (Reuters) - A refugee camp was the target of an air strike in South Sudan's Unity state on Thursday, less than 50 km (30 miles) from the tense border with Sudan, a Reuters witness said. There appeared to be no casualties. The Reuters correspondent heard a large explosion, then saw a crater about two metres (6.6 feet) wide, an unexploded bomb wedged in the side of a school building and a white aircraft flying north from the Yida refugee camp. Witnesses at the camp said there were three other explosions at 3 p.m. (1200 GMT). (Reporting by Hereward Holland; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL5E7MA1IL20111110 END3 4. South Sudan refugee-camp raid raises tensions (WITH VIDEO) Sudan denies carrying out cross-border bombing of a site housing refugees from two of its conflict-torn states. Al Jazeera Last Modified: 11 Nov 2011 05:07 A refugee camp in South Sudan's Unity state has been bombed, officials and witnesses say, in a development that threatens to raise tensions between the two former civil war foes, South Sudan and Sudan. There were no immediate reports of casualties at the Yida camp, less than 25km from the border with Sudan, following Thursday's apparent bombing.. Taban Deng, the governor of Unity state, blamed the Khartoum government over the incident. "These people [Khartoum] should be taken to book. They should adhere to international laws and regulations," he said in Bentiu, a town 654km northwest of Juba, the capital of South Sudan. The UN confirmed that an attack had been carried out in the area where about 20,000 refugees are camped after fleeing violence in Sudan's South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, where opposition groups have been fighting Sudan's army since June. "We can confirm that at least two bombs were dropped near Yida refugee camp, with an as yet unknown number of casualties," the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said in a statement. Al-Sawarmi Khalid, a spokesman for Sudan's armed forces, said they had not bombed any site in South Sudan's territory. "South Sudan is a state in the United Nations. We respect international law, and it's impossible that we would do that," he said. Large explosion A Reuters correspondent heard a large explosion in Yida on Thursday, then saw a crater about two metres wide, an unexploded bomb wedged in the side of a school building and a white aircraft flying north. Fire could be seen in the dry grass around the crater about 100 metres away from an aid agency compound in the refugee camp. "They [Khartoum] don't want any life in the Nuba mountains, and now they are expanding the war to the South Sudan republic," Yousif Ismail, a refugee from the Nuba mountains, said as he stood by the hole. The US strongly condemned the attack and urged both sides to resume negotiations to prevent the violence escalating into a full-scale conflict. "These provocative aerial bombardments greatly increase the potential for direct confrontation between Sudan and South Sudan. The United States demands the government of Sudan halt aerial bombardments immediately," Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. "This bombing of civilians and humanitarian workers is an outrageous act, and those responsible must be held accountable for their actions." The Khartoum government, for its part, reported fresh clashes in South Kordofan on Thursday. Khalid said Sudanese forces fought opposition groups in South Kordofan about 5km south of the town of Taludi, killing dozens and destroying a tank and other military vehicles. 'Pending invasion' Violence along the poorly defined border since South Sudan's independence in July has strained ties between the Juba and Khartoum governments. They have accused one another of backing armed groups on their sides of the border. Last week, Sudan submitted its second complaint to the UN Security Council, accusing South Sudan of supplying anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, ammunition, landmines and mortars to fighters in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Salva Kiir, the South Sudan president, denied those claims in a statement on Thursday, calling them "smokescreens to mask Khartoum's own activities in support of the armed dissident groups that are fighting its proxy war against the Republic of South Sudan". The accusations were being used to justify Sudan's "pending invasion of the South", Kiir said. Fighting has also broken out in Sudan's Blue Nile state this year. Blue Nile and South Kordofan are home to tens of thousands of fighters who sided with the south during the war but were left in Sudan when South Sudan seceded, analysts say. South Sudan split off into a separate country in July after voting overwhelmingly for secession in a January referendum, the culmination of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of war between north and south. About two million people died in the north-south civil war, waged for all but a few years since 1955 over religion, ideology, ethnicity and oil. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/11/2011111124926580.html END4 5. Warplanes Bomb South Sudan Refugee Camp; Sudan Suspected VOA News November 10, 2011 Warplanes bombed a refugee camp in South Sudan on Thursday, an attack local officials blamed on neighboring Sudan. A local journalist told VOA that planes bombed the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan's Unity state. The commissioner of local Pariang County, Miabek Lang, told reporters that 12 people were killed and at least 20 wounded in the bombing. However, other reports from the area said there were no casualties. Sudan's armed forces denied bombing South Sudan's territory. The two countries have been at sharp odds over several issues since the south became independent in July. Speaking to reporters Thursday, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir denied accusations that his country is supporting rebels fighting the Sudanese government. He also suggested that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is planning to invade and retake South Sudan. Sudan has accused the south of supporting rebels in two states along the border, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile. Yida, which sits about 40 kilometers from the border, hosts thousands of refugees from Southern Kordofan. Late Wednesday, the United States strongly condemned a separate airstrike in South Sudan. Southern leaders say Sudanese jet fighters bombed an area of Upper Nile state on Monday, killing seven people. The U.S. State Department called the attack provocative, and said such bombardments increase the chance of war between Sudan and South Sudan. Sudan has recognized the south's independence, but the sides have yet to resolve issues over borders - especially in the oil-rich Abyei region - and the sharing of oil revenue. The south took over most of Sudan's oil in the split, but pipelines to the sea run through the north. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/east/US-Strongly-Condemns-Sudan-Airstrike-on-South-133609788.html END5 6. U.S. condemns SAF’s aerial bombardment inside South Sudan November 10, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The United States on Thursday issued a strong condemnation of reported air strikes conducted today by Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) on a refugee camp in South Sudan’s Unity State. Officials in South Sudan claimed that the air raid by SAF Antonov fighter killed 12 people and seriously injured more than 20 others. The plane released five bombs at the Yida refugee camp which is believed to be housing more than 15,000 civilians who fled the fighting between Khartoum and Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan. Mabeak Lang Bilkuey who is Parieng County Commissioner condemned the attack that took place inside his county describing it as a violation of international boundaries. He likened it to a declaration of war by Khartoum on South Sudan. Bilkuey told Sudan Tribune on that the death rate may exceed the 12 announced so far noting that the wounded were transported to Parieng County to receive medical treatment. The official added that the situation has now become a threat to all citizens of South Sudan and accused SAF of carrying atrocities in the state attributing it to “wrong” decisions by Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir. Taban Deng, the governor of Unity state, held Bashir responsible for deaths among civilians fleeing the war in South Kordofan. “President Bashir must be taken to justice and should be answerable to all human right violations in Sudan” Deng told reporters in Bentiu. “They [Khartoum] should adhere to international laws and regulations," he added. But other sources denied reports of casualties in the camp even though they confirmed that bombing took place. Ryan Boyette, a former aid worker who lives in Sudan who is now leading a team of 15 citizen journalists, told the Associated Press that he spoke to five aid workers in the Yida camp, all of whom said that four bombs were dropped but that they caused no casualties. He added that a United Nations helicopter had landed on a nearby airstrip right as the first bomb hit. One of the bombs landed in a school yard where about 300 students were attending class, but the bomb did not explode. A spokesman for the Enough Project, an activist group that works to end genocide, also said the group confirmed there were no dead or wounded. A Reuters correspondent heard a large explosion in the Yida refugee camp, then saw a crater about two meters (6.6 feet) wide, an unexploded bomb wedged in the side of a school building and a white aircraft flying north. Witnesses said there were three further explosions at 3 p.m. (1200 GMT). SAF spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad denied carrying out any air attacks against Sudan’s southern neighbor. "This information is completely false. We didn’t bomb any camps or any areas inside the borders of South Sudan," Sa’ad told Agence France Presse (AFP). "What is going on in South Sudan belongs to the southerners. We don’t have any links to this" he added. The Sudan people Liberation Army (SPLA) spokesperson Philip Aguer told AFP that Upper Nile state, which like Unity state has seen thousands of civilians flee across its poorly defined border with South Kordofan, had also been targeted by SAF air strikes. "Two places have been bombed today. One is Yida, a place for refugees from South Kordofan... The other place is called Marenji... in Upper Nile," near the site of another deadly bombing raid on Tuesday, he told AFP. Yesterday South Sudan Salva Kiir spoke out about the Upper Nile attack saying it killed no less than seven people. He also slammed Bashir’s threat of war against South Sudan made last week in retaliation to support he said the new nation is providing to SPLM-N rebels battling Khartoum. This month Sudan lodged its second complaint in 2011 with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) detailing accounts supporting its assertions that South Sudan is providing military support to the anti-government rebels in Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Kiir denied the accusations again today, telling reporters they were "a prelude from Khartoum to justify their pending actions against South Sudan." "Tomorrow, when Bashir invades South Sudan, then he will say yes, he took the action to revenge what was being done to him... They want to engage South Sudan in wars, meaningless wars," he said. The White House described SAF aerial attacks as an “outrageous act” and that those responsible must be held accountable for their actions. “These provocative aerial bombardments greatly increase the potential for direct confrontation between Sudan and South Sudan” the statement said. “The United States demands the Government of Sudan halt aerial bombardments immediately. We urge the Government of South Sudan to exercise restraint in responding to this provocation to prevent further escalation of hostilities”, (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/U-S-condemns-SAF-s-aerial,40690 END6 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan/South Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (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. 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