Sudanese refugees continue to flee Blue Nile to S. Sudan – MSF

December 2, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — New waves of refugees are fleeing the war torn region of Blue Nile to South Sudan as the government army intensified air raids on the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N), MSF said Friday.

The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) put out satellite images captured between 11 and 27 November in the Blue Nile state indicating that Sudanese warplanes attacked some villages there. The group accused the government army of intentionally razing civilian structures in the area.

The international medical humanitarian organization, MSF, today estimated that some 13,000 Sudanese refugees crossed the border into the South Sudan, fleeing the air attack carried out by the Sudanese army.

A refugee who arrived to a village called Doro inside South Sudan, 40km from the joint border, told MSF they walked during eight days to reach South Sudan after air raids by army on their village. He also said many other civilians are on the road towards the South Sudan.

According to Asaad Kadhum a doctor who coordinates MSF team working in Dora, some 8,000 Sudanese refugees are “on the move” towards Doro. He indentified malaria, diarrhea and respiratory diseases as the critic sicknesses they deal with, on daily basis .

MSF deputy’s head of mission however said where the refugees are arriving, Doro, is not yet a refugees camp. “But the scrubland is filling up with refugees, and the queue of new arrivals registering keeps getting longer,” he added.

The medical group underlined the need for boreholes to provide drinking water in Doro before to establish a refugee camp. MSF officials also mention urgent need for vaccinations to prevent outbreak of diseases but also speak about the establishment of antenatal and maternal healthcare, as there are large numbers of pregnant women.

Khartoum which refuses to authorize aid groups to work insides the troubled Blue Nile and South Kordofan, bombed recently refugee camp inside the South Sudan saying they are established to receive SLPM-N fighters.

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) also dropped five bombs near a in camp for South Kordofan refugees in Yida, Unity State in South Sudan but the army denied that the bombing occurred in the territory of the newly independent state.

SAF are seeking to retake the control of the Blue Nile and South Kordofan from the SPLM-N fighters who are accused of being supported by South Sudan. Khartoum also accuses Juba of conducting a proxy war against Sudan due to their dispute over Abyei.

(ST)