We're Still Fighting

It’s interesting to me that after independence went off so well, international attention has really dried up for South Sudan. The general opinion I hear from colleagues and friends in the rest of the world is, “Wow, that’s so great that independence went well! Good for South Sudan.” While yes, it was a huge success, and certainly something to celebrate, ummm, there is still an active war going on. More than one really. Strangely, no one seems to be noticing.

The war may not be between the North and the South exactly, but it is between the North and civilians/rebel groups in the transitional areas along the border between the North and South. These areas—Abyei, Southern Kordofan, and Blue Nile—are literally war zones at this point. This very well-done photo essay on the fighting in Kurmuk includes images that confirm, yes, there are soldiers, bombings, heavy artillery, and well defined sides… how is this not a war?

In Abyei, the epicenter of the border dispute between the North and South, the North has agreed to accept international peacekeepers, but the full force has yet to arrive and the North refuses to withdraw until they do. The South is now claiming that the AU peacekeepers are being “intentionally delayed” to allow the North to continue to occupy the area and keep the already dispersed population out—in either Khartoum or the South as refugees or internally displaced people, depending on where you want to draw the border.

The international advocacy group Genocide Watch alleges that the North is not just fighting a war against rebels, but actually committing genocide in the Nuba Mountains. Given the North’s track record of human rights abuses against their own citizens, this charge is hard to find any evidence to dispute.

No matter what you call it, North is brutally killing civilians and the “rebels” who have stepped up in an attempt to stop them in the transitional areas. No matter how “deeply concerned” some people may claim to be, the impression we are getting here is that really no one outside the Sudans has actually noticed.

And that is just the transitional areas! Don’t get me started on the abuses the North is perpetrating against its citizens not along the border or the ethnic violence and rebel opposition forces spotting the South’s territory.

Since I’m not hearing much about this in the news, I just thought I would let you all know… Ummm, there’s still a war here. Just FYI.

-Stephanie

Photo courtesy of the New York Times