[ 2011-06-25 ]

Horror and uncertainty on Sudan's stricken border
PARIANG, Sudan (AFP) - Families recall fleeing for
their lives when the remote town of Jau, on the
border of north and south Sudan, was targeted by
army bombings that destroyed the market and
scattered the terrified population.

The army air strikes began just days after heavy
fighting erupted across the border in South
Kordofan, on June 5, between the Sudanese Armed
Forces (northern army -- SAF) and militia aligned
to the soon-to-be-independent south.

"Antonovs bombed the area and killed my son" says
Thrab Deng Nading, a woman from Jau. So she
hurriedly left on foot with her remaining four
children and came to Pariang, the county capital,
a day's walk across the vast plain.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
says that 3,700 people have fled Jau since the
attacks, with many ending up in Pariang and the
nearby towns of Faring and Aliab.

Witnesses say Jau's market was completely
destroyed in the second bombing raid, and the
remaining population fled as the deadly attacks
continued.

Many southern-aligned fighters from South Kordofan
had regrouped at the lakeside town, on the south
side of the border in Unity state, which has now
become a possible new frontline between the
south's, Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA),
and the SAF, its former civil war enemy.

"We can sometimes hear the sound of the bombing,"
says John Miakol, the Pariang secretary for the
South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission
(SSRRC), a government organisation charged with
helping the displaced.

Army planes have also been seen flying over
Panyang, 15 kilometres (10 miles) north of
Pariang.

"I am worried that Antonovs will follow us here
and bomb Pariang town," says Ayak, another woman
who fled Jau 10 days ago.

Leaving their homes and belongings behind,
families such as hers are left with little to
survive on, and rely on the generosity of the
already-stretched local population.

The closure of the roads between north and south
Sudan has led to skyrocketing food prices and
severe shortages of basic supplies in recent
weeks.

The price of sorghum, a local staple, has doubled
in the state capital Bentiu, according to the
World Food Programme, and fuel prices have shot up
too, ironically in an area criss-crossed by
pipelines from the state's oil fields.

The supply disruptions and influx of people have
come in the middle of the so-called "hunger
period," when families cut back on household
consumption because last year's produce has been
depleted and this year's first crop has yet to be
harvested.

The rainy season is also in full swing, so that
many of the fugitives, as well as having to beg
from local families to feed their own, have no
shelter.

In a lone building on the outskirts of town,
around 40 families have taken refuge from the
torrential rains that render many of the roads to
Pariang impassable.

The county commissioner, Mabek Lang Mading, fears
the lack of adequate shelter could cause disease,
saying that hygiene and sanitation are not being
maintained.

"The IDPs (internally displaced persons) are in
urgent need of assistance," Mading says.

Compounding their woes, there appears to be no
resolution to the conflict across the border,
which has already forced more than 70,000 people
to flee, according to UN estimates.

"I don't see any progress by the warring sides in
South Kordofan," Mading adds.

Whether or not the bombing continues after July 9,
when south Sudan will formally declare its
independence from the north, is becoming an ever
more pressing issue.

Source - AFP

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