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Fighting flares in disputed Sudan region
Sudanese army claims strategic victory in Lake Jau area in its war against rebels in the state of South Kordofan.
The army said on Saturday it had captured camps on a key supply route after deadly festivities. "Today the Sudanese army took control of SPLA-N (Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North) camps in the lake Jau area," said Sawarmi Khaled, an army front man. "The fighting took place at around 4:30pm (13:30 GMT). There were a number of casualties and injured soldiers on both sides. "This is a strategic area because it is a gateway to the south. The SPLA-N receive their weapons and ammunition and supplies through it." South Kordofan and Blue Nile states served as the ninth and tenth divisions of the southern rebel forces during the decades-long civil war between south and north, but the peace pact that ended the conflict placed the areas they fought for in the north. Many SPLA-N fighters' uniforms still show the flag of the former rebel group that now governs South Sudan, which voted in a referendum for secession. Sudan accuses its southern neighbour of arming fighters in the two states and has taken the matter to the UN Security Council, but South Sudan rejects the charges. Fighting in South Kordofan first erupted in early June, just weeks before the independence of South Sudan, between the Sudanese military and Nuba gangs who fought alongside the former southern rebels. Saturday's fighting came weeks after rebels in Sudan's Darfur region and in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile announced the formation of an alliance to overthrow the government of Omar al-Bashir  Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. , Sudan's president. The rebels said the alliance, called the Sudanese Revolutionary Front, was bent on "toppling the regime of the [Sudan's ruling] National Congress Party with all possible means" and replacing it with a democratic system. 'Heavy bombardment' The SPLA-N rebels were not immediately available to comment on the army's claimed victory on Saturday. But it follows days of heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting... just north of Jau, a lakeside town on a disputed stretch of the north-south border. Yasser Arman, the SPLM-N leader, has said that Khartoum had launched a major military campaign in South Kordofan earlier this week. "There is a heavy bombardment against civilian populations and massive displacement," Arman said in a statement. "This offensive is going to result in a much bigger humanitarian crisis than the last offensive that started in June." Sudanese troops attacked SPLA-N positions on Wednesday in Buram county with heavy artillery and tanks, according to other rebel sources. A barrage of army air strikes reportedly killed two civilians and badly injured four others in the area. The Sudanese government has prevented foreign aid workers and journalists from visiting the region, making it hard to verify information about the ongoing violence in Sudan's two embattled border states. In addition to the fighting in South Kordofan, there has been evidence of cross-border attacks in recent weeks, the AFP news agency reported. Witnesses said the army bombed a refugee camp last month in South Sudan's neighbouring Unity state, just south of lake Jau, badly fraying relations between the former civil war enemies. The UN refugee agency said last week that the number of people fleeing the unrest in Blue Nile and South Kordofan was likely to reach 100,000 by the end of the year, up from about 80,000 now. Posted by: trailing wife 2011-12-06 |
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