Nearly 180,000 flee from Sudan capital to Nuba Mountains

Nearly 180,000 people who fled the fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum arrived in South Kordofan areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N El Hilu). The authorities in Delling do not allow travel buses carrying newly displaced to continue to Kadugli, saying the area is too insecure.

Kojo Shayen Abajo, coordinator of joint civil society organisations in the Nuba Mountains, told Radio Dabanga that 179,333 people arrived in Dalami, Heiban, Tubou, and the eastern parts of the Nuba Mountains between May 2 and June 5.

“Most of them are women, young people, and children,” he said. “They have faced many problems on their way to the Nuba Mountains and are now in dire need of humanitarian and medical aid.”

He appealed to UN agencies to urgently intervene to provide support. “A large number of Nuba are still trapped in Khartoum where they are used as human shields. They need to be evacuated as most of them are very poor, and cannot pay the high transportation tariffs.”

‘Insecurity’

The authorities of Delling in the northern part of South Kordofan on Saturday stopped 10 buses carrying displaced people from Khartoum to the state capital Kadugli.

Sources told Radio Dabanga from Delling on Tuesday that the authorities and Militairy Intelligence officers halted the buses at the Khor Abu Habal checkpoint, “under the pretext of a lack of security on the road leading to Kadugli”.

The travellers, mostly women and children, are waiting outside the buses “in very complex humanitarian conditions,” the sources said. “They have to sleep on the ground during heavy rainfall.”

The authorities allowed some South Sudanese refugees to continue on the condition they would not take the road to Kadugli.

Last week, the Sudan People Liberation Movement-North under the SPLM-N El Hilu reportedly mobilised its forces in South Kordofan. A day later, reports on social media said that they took over several SAF compounds in Kadugli but other sources say that they have taken over three villages near the city.

“Many worry of a new war front emerging,” observer @BSonblast tweeted on June 9.