UN: Thousands flee to Ethiopia after clashes in Sudan
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
September 4, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – The UN’s Refugee agency (UNHCR) on Saturday disclosed that conflict in Sudan’s Blue Nile state between the army and an opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have forced thousands of people to flee to neighboring Ethiopia.
UNHCR said it has received reports of at least 16,000 people fleeing across the border into Ethiopia. Nine international staff who had been working for the UN and NGOs in Kermuk – a SPLM-N controlled area in the south of the state – also crossed the border in Ethiopia.
The UN refugee agency on Saturday dispatched a team to western Ethiopia to assess the situation. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres on Sunday appealed for an immediate halt to hostilities in Sudan’s Blue Nile state.
“We need, at all costs, to stop yet one more refugee crisis in a region of the world that has been witnessing in recent months so much suffering,” said Guterres in a press release. This came after his return to Geneva on Friday from visiting nearby Somalia, where hundreds of thousands of people are currently displaced by conflict, drought, and famine.
Neither government nor UNHCR officials in Ethiopia were available on Sunday for comments over the reports.
The United States on Saturday expressed deep concern about the ongoing fighting urging the warring parties to immediately end the clashes.
“We call on both parties to cease hostilities and for the SAF to end aerial bombings. We also call on both parties to protect civilians and engage in dialogue to prevent further escalation of violence,” a US spokesperson said.
US state department official, Victoria Nuland, noted an urgent need for negotiations between Government of Sudan and the SPLM-N to bring peace and stability to Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
“In this regard we are particularly disappointed that there has been no follow through after the meeting between President Bashir and SPLM-N Chairman Malik Agar in Khartoum on August 21”.
Agar, who is the elected state governor of Blue Nile, was deposed on Friday and a military governor installed. The former governor’s residence was attacked during the fighting according the SPLM-N. Agar is reported to have traveled to Kurmuk as the Sudanese army took control of Al-Damazine, the state capital.
Fighting spread to the areas of Dindiro, 70 km south of the state capital as well as villages near El Roseires to the east, the UN reported.
The SPLM-N say their offices have been closed and members arrested across Sudan, with the party declared an illegal entity by the government. The group has since June been fighting the government in nearby Southern Kordofan. On both occasions the fighting began soon after Sudan’s army issued an ultimatum for the SPLM-N to disarm.
Khartoum signed deal with the SPLM-N in August, which recognised the party but later the President Bashir decided to scrap the agreement. Agar warned at the time that failure to stick to the deal would result in a front against the government from running from Blue Nile state, which borders Ethiopia, through South Kordofan to Darfur which borders Chad to the west.
The SPLM-N and Darfur rebel groups including the two factions of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are negotiating an alliance to overthrow the regime.
South Sudan, which became independent in July denies that it continues to back the SPLM-N who fought with the SPLM against Khartoum during two decades of civil war. As part of the 2005 peace deal that led to South Sudan’s secession the two border states were supposed to hold “popular consultations” to decide whether the six years of the peace agreement had addressed their grievances. But neither process has been completed,
“We also reiterate the need for a peaceful relationship between Sudan and South Sudan and for resolution of outstanding issues between the two countries” Nuland said in the statement.
(ST)
Akol Liai Mager
UN: Thousands flee to Ethiopia after clashes in Sudan
The people of good will and compassion are now battling Western-created Drought and Famine in the Horn of Africa and are being forced again by Radical Islamists in Khartoum to batle another humanitarian crisis in Nuba Mountains and Blue State.
The UNSC must protect the fleeing civilians, return them to their homes by force, or must arm them so that they can protect themselves from the Devil Kingdom of Khartoum.
onlysonmabi
UN: Thousands flee to Ethiopia after clashes in Sudan
Oooh my God what is got wrong with Islamic communities for them they like blood sheed, may God se the inocene people of South kordufan and Blie Nile state from the hand of the enemy and to the International communities you only need to help civilian after they suffer by givening food and medication and you don’t want to take the criminal,
To what is call UN are business people that if there is no fighting in an area they will not get job please take action agiants Bashir.
Wanibuluk Ciciliba
UN: Thousands flee to Ethiopia after clashes in Sudan
The article talks about Ed damazin not northern Dafur so why is this picture of Norhtern Darfur here on this page?
Agar used to be extra vocal where is him now and how can he desert the State to let aother Governor to be put by force as if he is a woman?
DeltaBravo
UN: Thousands flee to Ethiopia after clashes in Sudan
What is wrong with media. why mixing Darfur picture,instead of Blue Nlie Refuggee picture fleeing the conflict zone. They need to go back to Journalist School to know the different.