South Sudan Malakal struggles to recover from battles
Dec 6, 2006 (MALAKAL) — The stench of sweat and human waste fills the air in the dilapidated building that passes for a hospital in this southern Sudanese town.
Several civilians wounded in last week’s fierce clashes between the northern Sudanese Armed Forces and former southern rebels lie on worn-out cots, their wounds covered with bandages that the hospital is running out of.
“I was at home and then armed men opened fire from outside,” said Sandy Joel, 14, who was hit with a bullet in the right side of his chest. His brother lies next to him with a wounded arm.
The clashes, in which the United Nations says at least 150 people were killed, was the heaviest between the military wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM/A) and the forces of the central Khartoum government since they signed a peace deal last year and ended a 21-year civil war.
They have added to the tension between the former foes, already rising since the SPLA arrested 15 members of the northern Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in October on suspicion of carrying out attacks around Juba, the capital of southern Sudan.
The United Nations, which has some 10,000 peacekeepers to monitor the agreement in the south, said most of the dead were combatants and that between 400 to 500 people were wounded.
Malakal’s sole state hospital said it had received around 100 wounded people during the clashes, which flared on Nov. 28.
“We are suffering from severe shortages in everything: antibiotics, intravenous fluids and even bandages,” director Tut Gony said. “And we only have five doctors.”
He said several civilians died shortly after reaching the hospital because of the lack of medical supplies.
On Tuesday, the dead body of a man who had arrived with a severely inflamed wound in his leg lay on one of the beds, covered with a blanket, just yards away from other patients.
“He stopped breathing a short while ago,” Gony said.
TOO SCARED TO FLEE
The clashes, in which the fighters used tanks and heavy machineguns, erupted after a dispute between the SPLA and Gabriel Tang, a pro-government militia commander who the army says has become one of its own after the peace deal.
Some civilians chose to flee the town, crossing to the other bank of the River Nile either by swimming or in boats, said 50-year-old Aofoul Ajack, a government employee.
“I stayed for four days at home with my children. We could not dare step outside the house,” he said, sitting near the Nile next to an old, small room with a “Finance Ministry” sign on it.
Salva Kiir, a former rebel leader who became Sudan’s vice president, says Tang remains a militia commander. He said he has asked the Defence Ministry of the central government to hand Tang over to the SPLA and disband his group.
The peace deal formed separate north and south armies with joint armed units in main towns including Malakal, the capital of the Upper Nile region and potentially one of the most oil-rich areas in Sudan, which produces at least 330,000 barrels per day of crude.
Life has returned to normal in the unpaved streets of the town, lined with small houses and huts. One passing car had a radio tuned to the U.N. radio station, with “Get Busy” by Jamaican reggae singer Sean Paul blaring from its speakers.
Hundreds of SPLM supporters walked and cycled to the town’s football field on Tuesday, where Kiir was giving a speech about last week’s violence.
“These people (the militia) will be fought by us when the time comes,” Kiir, wearing a full suit and his trademark cowboy hat, told the cheering crowd.
He said further militia attacks in the south would jeopardise the agreement and called on the ruling National Congress Party to disband them.
That was unpleasant news to Changjwok John, 42, who had put the memories of the civil war behind.
“I have never seen clashes like this since the day the SPLA went to the bushes in 1983,” he said, referring to the start of the southern rebellion. “I hope we don’t see this again.”
(Reuters)