German group – 28 killed in intertribal clashes in Sudan’s Unity State
Welthungerhilfe – German Agro Action
Fighting in Southern Sudan: Welthungerhilfe evacuates staff
July 20, 2006 (BONN) — Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action) has removed eight of its aid workers out of the south of Sudan and brought them to safety in the capital Khartoum as a provisional measure. For the first time since the peace accord of 9 July 2005 fierce fighting has flared up again between the Sudanese army and the rebel movement of the SPLA and their militias in Rubkona in Unity State province.
“The clashes began as a local dispute on Monday. They then escalated and spread,” reports Johan van der Kamp, Welthungerhilfe’s regional coordinator in Sudan. “As many as 28 deaths have since been recorded, seventeen of them civilians.” During the fighting, Welthungerhilfe staff had to take refuge in a bomb-proof shelter for four hours when their offices came under fire. A German staff member and seven Sudanese are now in safety, while twelve others have not yet been able to leave the region. Last year a peace agreements was concluded between the government and the rebels. It provides for a referendum in five years’ time in which the South is to decide on its independence. The question of borders, however, has not been fully clarified. Above all, there are disagreements over areas with valuable mineral reserves. Unity State contains the largest oil fields in Sudan.
“There are at least five uneasy years to go before the referendum,” explains van der Kamp. “In the areas under dispute a buffer zone needs to be created between the armies, and the military should leave the civilian areas.” The military are still a constant presence on the streets of towns like Rubkona, so lots of civilians are at risk whenever violence flares up. Von der Kamp said it was “sad” that the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) was unable to prevent these incidents from getting out of control.
Johan van der Kamp is available for interviews on request. Deutsche Welthungerhilfe has been active in Sudan since 1998, working in the provinces of North-Darfur, West Kordofan and Unity State. We are supplying 485,000 people with food aid in North-Darfur, and 185,000 in Unity State. Other project priorities are agriculture, food security and drinking-water supply.
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