South Sudan rebels: 'North using food as a weapon'

Rebels from South Kordofan, Sudan's main oil-producing state, accused the North of breaking its own ceasefire and deliberately destroying food crops as a weapon against the Nuba community on Thursday, charges which Khartoum denies.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Rebels from South Kordofan, Sudan’s main oil-producing state, accused Khartoum on Thursday of using food as a weapon against the Nuba community and breaking its own ceasefire, charges denied by the Sudanese government.

Fighting broke out between the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation North (SPLM-N) and government forces in June.

The region is viewed one of several flashpoints along the border with newly independent South Sudan, which seceded from the rest of the country in July following a referendum in which southerners voted for a split.

Rebels in South Kordofan want a no-fly zone over the Nuba mountains to stop what rights groups call indiscriminate bombing of civilians, which has killed at least 26, injured at least 46 and caused some 150,000 to flee their homes.

“The use of food as a weapon is the most effective weapon they used against the Darfurians,” SPLM-N deputy chairman Abdelaziz el-Helu told Reuters by telephone from South Kordofan.

He was referring to Darfur in west Sudan, where the government has also fought with rebels.

“Now they are bombing (Nuba) civilians on their farms and preventing them from tending to their crops, so that in the next dry season people are hungry and will be forced to take refuge in the towns and then isolate the SPLM-N,” he said.

Rights groups say many families have sought shelter under boulders and in caves, and are eating wild berries and leaves.

Sudan’s army denied the charges and said rebels had closed roads and prevented aid from reaching people. An army spokesman said the government was working with local and international groups in South Kordofan’s capital Kadugli to deliver aid.

“The army does not carry out aerial bombardment of civilians. It does not violate human rights. It is not possible to ever use food as a weapon,” army spokesman Al-Sowarny Khaled Saad told Reuters.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) fought alongside its southern counterpart against Khartoum during the civil war in which some two million people died. The peace deal in 2005 led to the referendum on secession.

A report by the United Nations human rights office in August documented alleged violations by the Sudanese army in Kadugli and the surrounding Nuba mountains including extrajudicial killings, illegal detention, enforced disappearances, attacks on civilians, looting of homes and mass displacement.

The reports, “if substantiated, could amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes”, the U.N. report said.

Sudan’s government dismissed the report as “unfounded” and “malicious” and said last week it would form its own committee to assess the human rights situation there.

Sudan sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday accusing South Sudan of supporting the SPLM-N, a charge the south denies.

Helu described the two-week ceasefire declared on Aug. 22 by Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir as a “deception for the international community.”

“There is no ceasefire. Bashir is not serious. He declared a ceasefire from one side and he is the first one to violate it the next day by sending airplanes, especially Antonovs and MiGs,” Helu said.

He accused Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes committed in Darfur, of using the ceasefire to buy time in order to prepare a bigger offensive.

“We want protection for civilians from aerial bombardment. If a no-fly zone is imposed to protect the civilians, we are ready to defend civilians from ground attacks,” he said, also calling for access for humanitarian aid.

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Date created : 01/09/2011

Comments (8)

message you agree Bashire is really creminal!

by Deng Akol (not verified) - 08/11/2011 - 19:04

if Saf should not be really weak why they destorty field crop in south kordufan.

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“There is no ceasefire.

by malou majok riak (not verified) - 19/10/2011 - 10:42

He accused Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes committed in Darfur, of using the ceasefire to buy time in order to prepare a bigger offensive.

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I wish peace for south & north Sudan

by SELEMON (not verified) - 17/10/2011 - 02:19

I would like to recommend to people of Sudan to pray to God.

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Violation of Human Rights in IRAN

by jophnson p i (not verified) - 01/10/2011 - 17:02

Iran: Pastor facing execution as apostate from Islam now branded "Zionist" and "traitor"
Pressure and bad publicity are mounting for Iran as Yusef Nadarkhani faces execution at any time for refusing four times to recant his conversion to Christianity and return to Islam. And so they have piled on more allegations, and more excuses to kill him, as Nadarkhani's lawyer says the deputy governor's remarks were the first time "security"-related allegations had arisen.
If one charge doesn't stick, they have other ways to keep abusing him. "Iran pastor guilty of being a 'Zionist, traitor': official," from Agence France-Presse, September 30:
Iranian pastor Yusef Nadarkhani should face the death penalty for being a traitorous "Zionist" and committing "security crimes," not for apostasy, an official said Friday according to Fars news agency, amid a Western outcry over his sentence.
Perhaps authorities sense discomfort within segments of Iranian society (or even somewhere within their own consciences) over the utter absence of logic in killing a man simply for what he believes, and suppose that padding the case with these charges might make it easier to sell.
Nadarkhani's lawyer told AFP that the remarks by Gholam-Ali Rezvani, deputy governor general of the northern province of Gilan, where the pastor's case is being reheard, were the first time security offences had been mentioned.
Rezvani's comments were also the first public remarks by an Iranian official about Nadarkhani's case.
"The issue of crime and of capital punishment of this individual is not a question of faith or religion -- in our system, one cannot be executed for changing their religion," Fars quoted Rezvani as saying.
Sure.
Nadarkhani was, however, "a Zionist, a traitor and had committed security crimes," said Rezvani, who is responsible for security and political affairs in the province.
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Nadarkhani's lawyer, told AFP that Rezvani's remarks were the first time authorities had cited "security offences" against his client."On the apostasy, that is exactly what we were told in front of the court," he said. "However, there was no mention of security offences during the trial. These new accusations should be examined by the courts."
Nadarkhani, now 32, converted from Islam to Christianity at the age of 19 and became pastor of a small evangelical community called the Church of Iran.
He was arrested in October 2009 and condemned to death for apostasy under Islamic sharia law, which allows for such verdicts to be overturned if the convicted person "repents" and renounces his conversion.
After his conviction was upheld by an appeals court in Gilan province in September 2010, Nadarkhani turned to the supreme court.
In July, the supreme court overturned the death sentence and sent the case back to the court in his hometown of Rasht, in Gilan province.
Dadkhah said on Wednesday he was "optimistic" Nadarkhani could be set free.
"Our last court session was held on Wednesday. Mr Nadarkhani did not repent and the last court verdict said he would face a death sentence if he did not," he said.
"However, we offered our explanations and I think the court was convinced. I am optimistic there is a 95 percent chance he will be released in the final ruling, which I expect by the end of next week," Dadkhah added.Several Western countries have condemned the death sentence against Nadarkhani and called for his release, including the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Poland, current chair of the European Union.(johnsob,India)