‘War atmosphere’ in Kadugli

The Kadugli agreement which was signed between the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) collapsed less than two hours after it was signed, with the attack of the government on the house of Abdul Aziz Elhilu, the chairman of the SPLM of South Kurdofan, in Kadugli. The guards of Elhilu, who was not at home, exchanged heavy fires with the government forces which used heavy artillery in the attack on Elhilu’s house. Gamar Dalman, the counselor of Elhilu, in an interview with Radio Dabanga, said that government forces opened fires at the house of Elhilu and artillery fires were heard in the neighborhoods in Kadugli. The journalist Gamar Dalman said that the staff of the United Nations called on the residents of the city to leave to Shair camp in North Kadugli to guarantee protection after news that the government had turned to airstrikes on the city. The resident however, according to Dalman, refused to leave their houses. The journalist confirmed that the civil society organizations and other organizations working in humanitarian fields responded to the call of the UN and left to the camp and that Kadugli market remained closed for three days, a forebode of a humanitarian catastrophe. Dalman described the atmosphere in South Kordofan as ‘a war atmosphere’.

Further a UN official confirmed that at least ninety-six thousand (96.000) people have fled from the area of Abyei in Sudan and areas in South Kordofan neighboring Abyei more than two weeks after the occupation of the north on the disputed area. Liz Gernad, the UN OCHA coordinator in South Sudan, said that the real number of those who fled could be significantly higher as many people fled to the forest.