Nuba Vision

Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2003

News in Brief

The Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army have agreed to a six-month renewal of their cease-fire agreement in the central Nuba Mountains, a statement said Tuesday. This is the third time the agreement has been renewed. The statement from the Joint Military Commission, which is monitoring the cease-fire, said it takes effect from July 20 and will last until January 19, 2004. A truce in the area has held since January 2002. There have been no major violations of the previous agreement, reached in January, and the two warring parties have worked together "in good faith" under the chairmanship of Brig. Gen. J.E. Wilhelmsen, head of the monitoring group, the statement said.

"The population in the Nuba Mountains has now enjoyed freedom of movement for the past 17 months and living and working conditions have significantly improved," the statement said. "It is clear that the people want peace and development and they believe that JMC is an important factor in the process of achieving this for the future," Wilhelmsen was quoted as saying. The commission is an international body set up after the cease-fire was originally negotiated by the United States and Switzerland in January 2002.

Sudan’s civil war broke out in 1983 when the rebels took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim northern government in an attempt to obtain greater autonomy for the largely animist and Christian south. The war has been calamitous for the Nuba people, squeezed between Arab northerners and southern rebels. From an estimated prewar high of 1.5 million, the Nuba region’s population has dropped by two-thirds. Peace talks are to resume in July.

Nuba Facing Eviction Policy in Northern Sudan

On Monday 2nd June 2003 at around 8:00 am a team of bulldozers supported by police and troops and without any warning moved to el-Slama village in the northern part of Omdurman and immediately started destroying houses. This village is inhabited by more than 70,000 people who came mainly from the Nuba Mountains, and the Southern and the Western Sudan. They had fled their homelands because of civil war and came to Northern Sudan seeking protection. However, they found that they are not welcomed. While a complete report has not been received yet about the incident which took place in al-Salama the early report revealed that a women was killed when her house was pulled down and she did not have enough time to escape. When the community tried to confront the bulldozers to stop them destroying their houses the army fired at them using live bullets and as a result eight civilians were killed and 30 were injured. These were taken to al-Noh and Omdurman General Hospital and among them 10 are seriously injured and in critical condition. The report also revealed that 50 villagers were arrested and taken to a police station. In fact we were told on the phone that the situation in al-Salma is very disturbing indeed and quick measures are needed. We believe this is a deliberate act by the Government which wants to drive the Nuba and other people from western and Southern Sudan out from the capital, Khartoum.

On Monday 2 June 2003 and at 10:30 am, five officers from the Sudanese National Security Agency (NSA) arrested 38 Nuba women and 3 men who are members of "Ru’ya Association", the main Nuba women’s organisation. These women were going to participate in the women’s conference for peace and development in Kauda town, in the southern part of the Nuba Mountains.

The women began their journey from the ‘Awda district in Omdurman only to be intercepted at Kalakala south of Khartoum, where they were met by six security men in pick-up trucks and 2 cars with blackened windows. The security officers were armed with kalashnikov rifles and pistols and arrested the delegates and transported them to the security offices in Kalakala East, where they were searched in an inhumane manner and verbally abused. Following this, they were interrogated regarding their movements, the intentions of their trip and any relations they may have had with the SPLA/M. Eight of the women were then transported to the Security Offices in Omdurman (near Omdurman Traffic Police Station) where they were forced to sign a declaration promising that they would not leave Khartoum without the permission of the Security Office. A number of personal items were confiscated from the group - including mobile phones, computer equipment, documents and diaries containing private details of contacts. In addition to this, a sum of approximately 8 million Sudanese pounds was confiscated and the women were told to sit on the floor for an hour outside under the hot sun. At about 9 pm some of the women were released. But eight of the following women were told to report to the security offices in Omdurman every day at 8am and 8 pm.

1. Huda Dawood; 2. Huwaida Bashir Kumi; 3. Ja’fariya Bashina; 4. E’timaad Faqih Ali, 5. Samir Abdallah; 6. Zeinab Balnadiya (President of Ru’ya Association); 7. Jumm’a Durman and 8. Camilla

It’s reported that Ru’ya Association Office in Omdurman has been sealed off by the authorities. We strongly urge the international community to put pressure on the Sudanese Government to: 1. stop harassing the Nuba people living in the Khartoum and elsewhere in the Northern Sudan, 2.The immediate release from security surveillance of all people arrested while on their way to the conference in Kauda and 3. Return of all documents, belongings and resources to Ru’ya Association and its office to be opened so that it can carry out its duty to serve the needy people in the Nuba Mountains.

It is reported that five internally displaced Nuba living in Dongolla in Northern Sudan were arrested. The report said one of the detainees Mr Awad Ibrahim invited some of his Nuba friends to his house for a ceremony and while they were celebrating the police broke into the house and arrested five of them and these were:

1. Awad Ibrahim; 2. Gumma’ Omer el-Nur; 3. Gumma’ Mahmoud; 4. Abu-Elnja and 5. Rammadan Ismail

They were taken to the police station where they were subjected to severe beatings and torture and a result Mr Awad Ibrahim died in police custody. The condition of the other two detainees, Mr Gumm’ Omer el-Nur and Mr Rammadan Ismail looks critical and they were sent to Khartoum for treatment. The police tried to hand over Ibrahim’s body to his family to bury but the family refused to take it unless they were given the report about his death. The dead body was given to the Nuba tribal leaders in Dongolla Mr Abass Akoy, Mr el-Taher and Sulleiman Baraba to bury. The Nuba community in Khartoum appointed a lawyer Mr. Adam Musa Abu Anja to go to Dongolla to make enquiries about the death of Awad Ibrahim but the Attorney General refused to give him permission to go ahead.

Early last month Lt. General Lazaro Sumbeiywo General Sumbeiywo, IGAD Special Envoy for peace made an important visit to Sudan to hear the views of all sides and try to bridge the gap between the two warring parties before the next phase of peace talks, which is going to be a crucial one. He met with the political leaders on the government and opposition side, university professors and former ministers, plus religious leaders, southern Muslims and scholars. He then went to meet people in Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains, Southern Blue Nile, Abyei and the SPLM/A leader and Southern Communities. In Khartoum he was given an angry reception by Muslim Sudanese who rejected an opposition agreement forged last month to turn Khartoum into a secular, national capital. They told him that, "while we declare here our stand alongside your efforts for peace in southern Sudan through dialogue and negotiations, we also assert ... the application of Sharia (Islamic law) in the national capital, which is part of the north". This was in reference to the Sudanese opposition meeting in Egypt earlier last month, with leaders of the National Democratic Alliance, the Umma Party and the SPLA said they back the creation of a national capital based on equality between people of different religions, beliefs and political persuasions.

However, Sumbeiywo seems to be pleased with his mission and urged the Sudanese people to be "committed to the peace process and to pressure government and opposition leaders to conclude a peace deal. "We discussed all the outstanding issues on power sharing and wealth sharing, security arrangements and issues on the three conflict areas which fall under Kenyan mediation where I received very good response", said Sumbeiywo. He also indicated his intention to the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to visit areas of their choice so as to discuss with the other side of the peace talks, and he promised to visit Sudan again after visiting SPLA/M areas. After hearing views from the two sides, Sumbeiywo said he would prepare reconciliation proposals for them to consider as a framework for a final peace agreement. He said he expects "the agreement to be reached by mid-August to end the 20-year civil war between the Sudanese government and the SPLA". The next meeting for the peace talks is scheduled on 6 July 2003

On 28 June 2003 the Nuba Mountains Solidarity Abroad (NMSA) held its third General

Assembly in London at the Africa Foundation for Development Centre and unanimously elected

the following candidates to the positions of NMSA Executive Committee:

Mr. Mahgoub Tawer Kafi: Chairman

Dr. Fakhir El-Din Ali Jaldagon : Deputy Chair

Mr. Sabir Salman Ibrahim:General Secretary

Mrs. Ishragha Jambola: Social Affair Secretary

Mr. Maowia Habib Sarnoub:Foreign Affair Secretary

Mr. El- Rayah Musa: Financial Secretary