The newly independent government of South Sudan accused Khartoum’s Sudan Armed Forces of bombing targets in its territory over the past 48 hours, including a refugee camp at Yida in oil-rich Unity state, where reports indicate at least 12 people have been killed and some 20 wounded. Another seven were killed in the remote area of Guffa, Upper Nile State. (See map.) UN human rights commissioners Navi Pillay wanred that a war crime may have been committed, and called for an investigation. The Khartoum government denied that Sudan’s armed forces were to blame. (Sudan Tribune, BBC News, NYT, Nov. 11).
A US satellite monitoring group charges that Khartoum’s military is upgrading air bases near the border with South Sudan. The Satellite Sentinel Project said that satellite imagery appears to show the “enhancement” of two air bases in Sudan’s Blue Nile State. The group says the images show three helicopter gunships and an Antonov—the plane witnesses said was used in the bombing of Yida refugee camp. (AP, Nov. 10)
See our last post on the struggle for Sudan.
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South Sudan: thousands flee ethnic violence
Tens of thousands in South Sudan’s Jonglei state are fleeing their homes after inter-ethnic clashes around the town of Pibor. The UN is warning villagers to run for their lives as some 6,000 Lou Nuer fighters advance on their ethnic rivals, the Murle, in what is being portrayed as a vendetta over cattle raiding. A UN official told the BBC that peacekeepers and government troops are heavily outnumbered. (BBC News, Jan. 2)