Struggle for survival in the Nuba Mountains

Since the war resumed in June 2011, after a failed attempt by Khartoum to disarm the population of South Kordofan, bombing raids by Sudanese army warplanes are a daily occurrence in the Nuba Mountains. A continuous attack that have since claimed thousands of lives and a unaccountable number of injured among civilians. Entire villages have been destroyed and the people, largely dependent on farming, are unable to cultivate their land. Most have been forced to seek refuge in caves and rocky shelters in the hills, surviving on a diet of leaves, wild fruits and insects as Khartoum does not authorise aid agencies to operate in the affected areas. A plight that forced thousands of others to flee to the troubled neighbouring nation of South Sudan. Ahmed Tia, the commissioner of Buram county, accuses the government of using hunger as a weapon. “Since the war started, the people have been terrified. They are living in caves. There’s no way to grow anything or graze our cattle. There’s nothing left here,” he says. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), the Nuban historical group ally of South Sudan's former rebel forces, says the Sudanese army, through its aerial bombardment, is trying also to prevent people from growing crops from which profits could be used to support the insurgency that has fanned out across the restive states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. A tactic also used a decade ago in Darfur. People here fear what comes from the sky. The army is using Antonov aircraft loaded with bombs, Sukhoi attack jets and helicopter gunships. Children have grown to recognise the roaring sound of the engines overhead, and “Antonov” has became part of their vocabulary. As soon as the sound is audible in the distance, villagers panic and run to shelter in caves dotted throughout the nearby hillsides. Because so many of their relatives and neighbours have died or been seriously injured, the people feel they cannot take any chances. In a rebel base across the mountains, other rebel fighters display weapons newly captured from the government forces. Iranian anti-personnel land mines, Chinese rockets and cluster bombs and Greek-made mortar bombs are among the contents of a pile of boxes camouflaged under some trees. Capitan Abdula Jumlah, commander of Jebel Kwo base, near the village of Tess, declares that “the world needs to see what weapons Khartoum is using and where they are getting them”. He accuses Iran and China of being the main suppliers to the regime of President al-Bashir, which then uses them against the civilian population of the region. Equipped mainly with weapons and ammunition capture from the enemy and using a guerrilla style combat, the rebels have struggled to secure control of the province. According to their commander in chief and political leader of the Nuba people, Dr. Abdalaziz Alhilu, the SPLM-N in coordinance with other rebel groups in Sudan, will be able to oust Bashir in a near future.