Red Crescent: 35,000 households displaced in Blue Nile

Government forces target SPLM cadres in South Kordofan

Events in Blue Nile have affected over 35,000 households and left large number of people displaced, the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) said in a statement on Monday. Blue Nile state in the north of Sudan witnessed intensive fighting between the government forces and the opposition group Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) last week.

The SRCS described the condition of displaced people as very complex. “Residents were left homeless amid a shortage of basic human needs necessary in the state of Sennar,” it said in a statement.

Fadhul Mawla Al Hija, minister of Social Affairs in Sudan, told the state news agency that the number of displaced people from the state of Blue Nile to the neighboring Sennar state had reached 20,000 people. The civilians have taken refuge in areas of Abu Hujar, Wad al Nayell, Sinja, Haroun and Khour Doniya.

Crackdown on SPLM in South Kordofan

Government authorities in South Kordofan launched a security campaign against members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in South Kordofan (SPLM-South Kordofan).

The crackdown, which also targeted citizens, was spread out in Aboujbahh, Abbasid areas. Qamar Dahlman, the media adviser to the president of the SPLM-South Kordofan told Radio Dabanga, “Nearly 200 people, civilians as well as staff members of the SPLM have been arrested. Brigadier Ahmed Adam, the commander of the 53rd infantry is responsible for the arrests.”

Dahlman added that governor Ahmed Harun, who is wanted in the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, always involved military commanders in his work.

The government also targeted SPLM-North members over the last weekend after fighting began between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the armed wing of the SPLM, and Sudanese forces.

Refugees condemn war

Refugees in the camps of Darfur and eastern Chad condemned on Monday the war waged by the government over civilians.

They expressed regret that the civilians of South Kordofan and Blue Nile will now face the same fate as those of Darfur.

“What is happening in these two regions is a continuation of what happened in Darfur. The same people in the government are responsible for these attacks. The resistance movements should come together and overthrow the regime in Khartoum and stop the war in the country,” a leader of Zamzam camp, which houses about 20,000 refugees, told Radio Dabanga.