Arry Organization for Human Rights & Development

Nuba Mountains Crisis Comprehensive Report (April 2011- February 2012) Press Release

On June 6th 2011, the Sudanese Armed Force (SAF) with the support of the Peoples Defense Forces(PDF) and the Central Reserve Forces known as Abo Tiyra started overwhelming military campaign in Kadugli city capital of Nuba mountains/South Kordofan State, which two-third of its population more than 1.6 millions are from African tribes called Nuba. The Sudanese Governments campaign continues until today causing the death of dozens, displaced and refuge at least half a million of Nuba Mountains people. The attacks have also destroyed 82 villages, 48 school, 10 churches and 17 mosques, in addition to the death of hundreds of animals and the destructions of entire neighborhoods using bulldozers. Moreover, the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) besieges 32 villages a total siege in the Western, Southern and Central mountains, blocking food and medicine and preventing peoples from fleeing the fighting areas. 1.2 million people in the Nuba mountains are in critical need for urgent humanitarian relief , half of them in danger of famine within this month, in addition to the IDPs Situation there is120 thousands IDPs in Khartoum, 70% of them are women and children , hiding in the city slums in devastating & inhuman living conditions . All of the above is just a small picture of the violations and crimes against civilians, which is continues to be committed by the Sudanese regime and its armed forces and supporting militias. This report prepared by Arry Organization for Human Rights and Development with amazing participation of 30 researcher, interviewed 85 of Nuba Mountains people, including 37 women and 48 men aged between 25 and 70 years, 65 of whom are displaced to Khartoum, Al-Rahad and Al-Obaiyed, and 10 from within the Nuba Mountains, in addition to 7 of the Nuba residing in Khartoum. The interviews were conducted in the period from June 23, 2011 until February 7, 2012. The Nuba Mountains region is located in the central part of southwestern Sudan in the state of South Kordofan, between longitudes 29 and 31 degrees east and latitudes 12 and 30 degrees north, the area of the region is approximately 30000 (thirty thousand square miles), which is almost equivalent to the size of Scotland. The elections in the state of South Kordofan was postponed and was not held in April 2010 as predetermined in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, instead it was held in May 2011 due to disagreements between the SPLM and the Government of Sudan about the results of the census, which was repeated in 2010 to correct 2008 census results. The new results showed that Southern Kordofans population was not 1.4 million as 2008 census announced but as the 2010 census results showed that the population number is 2.5 million with a difference of 1.1 million people. After steaming election race, started by a strong electoral campaigns, the elections results were rejected by the SPLM/N, when the National Congress Partys (NCP) announced the winning of their candidate for the position of the Governor with a difference of less than one percent. Since the announcement of the elections results, the state witnessed heavy military buildup that exceeded the security preparations of the elections, and pulled the warning tiger for the upcoming which started on June 5th and didnt stop until now.

Arry organization call for the international community through all its justice, human rights and humanitarian organs , in the United Nation and Security Council to urgently take action and make effective decisions to relieve the suffering of the people of Nuba mountains which never stopped for more than 3 decades of nonstop conflict . the international community, the United States, The United Kingdom and France should repeat the same successful process which saved thousands of lives in Benghazi , and impose NO FLY ZONE over Nuba mountains , Blue Nile and Darfur and all the Sudan south borders , where the Sudanese Armed Forces continues to bomb civilians since last June in Nuba Mountains and last September in Blue Nile. We call the international to take their responsibility toward half million people endanger of famine in the Nuba mountains/ South Kordofan, we also call upon the United State of America to urgently start another (OFL)( Operation LifeLine) , a very successful cross border humanitarian oeration saved millions in south Sudan during the civil war, this kind of bold actions are extremely needed to save lives in the Nuba mountains after so much delayed actions . The Sudanese newspaper Al-Sahafah published in the 4th of July2011 a statement by the Governor of South Kordofan stated that Jihad is an individual obligation to liberate Kauda, Al-Buram, Um Dooreen, Troojy and Krongo and other areas from the grip of insurgency This is the same call that were declared by Al-Bashirs government in1991, when it started a deadly campaign against Nuba Mountains people, which included continuous shelling on civilians in addition to forced relocating, rape, destruction and villages burning beside siege and prevention the arrival of humanitarian aid. This campaign ended with the death of 100 thousand Nuba peoples and the displacement of thousands, it also destroyed entire villages and vital facilities during the period from 1989 to1998. The estimated number of Nuba people who had been displaced from their villages or were forced to flee in that period was about half a million IDPs. The humanitarian catastrophe in the Nuba Mountains is repeated again, using the same means, "Jihad," which as we shall see in this report have led in the past 9 month to the same disastrous results of the displacement, death and man-made famine, all amid the silence of the international community and shameful failure of the Security Council in it responsibility to protect civilians in conflict zones which are the people of the Nuba mountains in this case , The atrocities committed by the Government of Sudan against its own people is fairly to be described as war crimes and ethnic cleansing targeting the indigenous people of the Nuba ethnicity in Sudan, according to the International Humanitarian Law(IHL) and the Rome Statute .