Kill the civilians
After the events of 2002, can the word “genocide” be pronounced with regard to what has gone on in Sudan? Three groups of experts were sent at the beginning of  the year on fact-finding missions to the oil zone in Western Upper Nile. They interviewed “those who do not exist” people who survived attacks on their villages in a region where the Sudanese government and oil companies claim no one lives. The scenario is always the same. Without warning bombs rain down on the villages for an indeterminate time period usually several days, then as dawn breaks and the villagers are sleeping inside their huts, helicopter gunships and ground troops, along with the army and militia contingents arrive loot, burn, rape, enslave and above all, slaughter the occupants. Villages have been seeded with landmines in the area around Ruweng located north of Bahr-el-Ghazal river. The killers have been given complete freedom to carry out their sadistic designs. Eyewitness accounts tell of the old and infirm being burned alive. In Mankien, people have had their throats slit by machete wielding soldiers. Those escaping are pursued and slain before they get away. But some have managed to hide and then to put distance between themselves and their attackers by traveling under the cover of darkness. It has been stated time and time again that the helicopters swoop in barely above the trees, something they could not do if the SPLA troops were present. Eleven deserters from a militia group, willingly or unwillingly recruited in Khartoum to protect the oil fields, reported that on arriving in the war torn South, pro-government militia commander Paolino Matiep himself ordered them to “Kill the civilians and plunder their cattle.”
Such a strategy has nothing to do with moving away people from an industrial area.

It is extremely difficult to enumerate the number of casualties in this most recent phase of the war. Survivors speak of many slain neighbors and family members, but for the most part people have no idea what has become of those who like them have been forced to flee. United Nations personnel and NGO teams have tried to determine the numbers of displaced still alive rather than count the dead so as to better provide assistance. They estimate the figure to be between 150,000 and 300,000. But many of the survivors, particularly those who have sought refuge in the marshes will have died before aid reaches them, having drowned in the mounting waters of the rainy season which begins in May. Although warring factions promised to stop attacking civilian targets, there are still no international observers on the ground to see to it that the pledge is enforced. Humanitarian aid coming from the United Nations, already little authorized in the area, was completely forbidden by the Sudanese government on May 16, a tactic sure to test the patience of all mediators. But it is likely that some aid delivery will again be authorized as of June 21. The oil roads cover an ever-increasing distance while Talisman has extended its foraging activity into new concessions. 

The deceit of the Nuba Mountains Cease-fire
We should be all smiles and full of joy over the Nuba Mountain cease-fire, which was supposed to allow humanitarian aid to arrive in a region sorely in need of it. But British journalist Julie Flint, who returned recently told us that World Food Program supplies never reached the SLPA controlled areas in the Nuba Mountains and that hundreds of children died in a meningitis outbreak because the UN couldn’t deliver the needed medicine. Even an appeal to UNICEF went unanswered. The Nuba, relocated willingly or by force in “peace camps” by the authorities, have been given the green light to go home to a place where food is scarce because to date, there have been barriers blocking its arrival. We are curious to know if the cease-fire will be renewed. Since aliitle food has reached the area.

Danforth in Khartoum : criticism and partiality
The report issued by President Bush’s special envoy the Pastor John Danforth, speaks at great length about “religious freedom” but does not mention human rights violations, arbitrary detention, torture, racial discrimination or the absence of democratic institutions. Nor would it appear that Danforth has made a serious evaluation of certain characteristics pertaining to the extraction and sale of oil as he seems to suggest that this be continued albeit with due regard to divvying up the proceeds between the Khartoum government and the SPLA. This enables Khartoum to carry on violating human rights and buying arms. But neither the government nor the rebels seem interested in Danforth’s suggestion. Furthermore, after declaring that the United States ought to invest in the peace process, but without bringing a new strategy to the table, Danforth advised against American support of the IGAD Declaration of Principles drawn up jointly by Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, and Kenya. The Declaration is clear on the establishment of a secular state with a division of resources and self-determination of the South, including possible independance. No where does Danforth advocate secularism, he simply holds his ground on religious freedoms with international guarantees.. Without any explanation he has retreated from the idea of self-determination*, because as he sees it, “the government is bound to resist ” and that “it would be difficult to achieve” even though the provision has been written into the Sudanese Constitution and agreed upon by all. Critics have appeared. Almost every Southern Sudanese political figure that counts in Khartoum have exclaimed their surprise at not being able to meet with Danforth. They went on to draw up and sign a document pointing to the fact that the right to self-determination was written into the Constitution. Furthermore, the Christian churches of Sudan published a lengthily text (available on our Internet web site) defending self-determination, arguing that it had won total approval in a national consensus. Long suffering Southerners will only accept a just and sustainable peace.
Does this imply that the country will be subjected to twenty more years of war?**

* According to sources, the part of Danforth’s report concerning self-determination would come from pressure by his assistant, Robert Oakley, who belongs to the State Department.
** On June 17 a five-week peace conference will be held in Nairobi under the aegis od IGAD. Great-Britain, Italy, Norway and the United States will send observers. President Beshir promissed peace before the end of the year, one way or another.