Sudan food markets burned in North & South Darfur

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Lately, I find myself double checking dates on news reports because the content is so similar to the start of Darfur war. 

At least this time the world can see verifiable and timely satellite imagery and detect truthful news from Darfur. 20 yrs ago it was like from another planet. No maps of Darfur were on the internet. Now we can see evildoings.

Starve Darfuris of food was a tactic used in Darfur war. Force them to flee from fire so they're traumatised and controlled by chaos, fear and anxiety. 

Report from dnyuz.com

By New York Times

Friday 21 April 2023

Large Food Market Burned in Darfur Camp, Satellite Images Show

A large market for food and other supplies serving a camp for displaced people was partly damaged during a fire on Wednesday, reflecting the dangerous toll recent fighting has taken on Sudan’s most vulnerable citizens. The extent of the destruction was evident in satellite imagery and social media videos analyzed by The New York Times, which found that the blaze destroyed or damaged approximately 18 acres of the market.

Over the past week, Sudan has been engulfed in violence as the Army and a paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.), vie for control of the country. Already, the Abu Shouk camp, located in El Fasher, the regional capital of North Darfur, was experiencing supply shortages.

According to Thomas Okedi, the area manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council, the camp hadn’t received any aid in the week before the fire started. He blamed the current fighting and turmoil for the blaze, saying it started because of a stray bullet or looters igniting one of the shops, and then spread quickly through some of the makeshift structures.

A satellite image from Wednesday afternoon shows the fires still burning, with small shops on the eastern side of the market reduced to ash, and flames consuming other structures.

A video shared on social media shows the blaze, with a man taking the video saying: “May God help us. This market is completely destroyed.” Another video, taken a few hours later, shows the charred, smoking remains of shops and equipment.

“As of right now, Abu Shouk market is operating at very limited capacity,” Mr. Okedi said. “With the reduction of food supplies and the stopping of humanitarian aid, the situation is getting more dire.”

Many humanitarian groups have halted their operations because of the fighting, and there are growing concerns about how people will get access to food and water.

Fighting has been reported in El Fasher by Doctors Without Borders, which said that it had treated almost 300 wounded civilians, 44 of whom died from their injuries, in the city this week.

Nearly 900,000 internally displaced people lived in North Darfur before the current escalation of violence. The Abu Shouk camp alone is home to more than 100,000 people, according to Mr. Okedi. Some of them were displaced by a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s waged by the Sudanese Army and so-called Janjaweed militias. The R.S.F. grew out of the Janjaweed, and is now fighting its former ally, the Army.

Another food market, 100 miles south of El Fasher in the capital of South Darfur, Nyala, went up in flames on Sunday. Satellite imagery from April 20 shows the aftermath.

A few homes less than a mile from the market also burned down. Additionally, the satellite imagery shows signs of looting at various places in the city, and unidentified security forces, including tanks, positioned in a residential area.

At least 413 people have been killed and 3,551 others around the country have been wounded in the violence, the World Health Organization reported on Friday.

The post Large Food Market Burned in Darfur Camp, Satellite Images Show appeared first on New York Times.

View original: https://dnyuz.com/2023/04/21/large-food-market-burned-in-darfur-camp-satellite-images-show/

Security update: High-level UNAMID visit to sheikhs of Kalma, S. Darfur - MSF suspends work in Gumuruk, Jonglei State, S. Sudan

ON July 30th, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) issued a statement (see below) confirming it had suspended its medical activities in Jonglei, southern Sudan due to robberies. MSF's work in other parts of the country remain open.

According to the statement, on July 1 an armed group entered MSF's Gumuruk clinic and stole boxes of the therapeutic ready-to-use food (RUTF) with which MSF treats severely malnourished children. Three days later, more RUTF was stolen along with medical equipment. Then, on July 27, four MSF staff members travelling by boat from Pibor to Gumuruk were violently robbed by armed men. Apart from a small Ministry of Health facility in Pibor town, MSF is the only primary health care provider in this part of Jonglei State, which is home to around 150,000 people, where villages are separated by large distances, and where roads are often impassable. Further details here below.

Note that the robbers seem desperate for food. I guess that if they are criminals, ie from the dreaded Ugandan terrorist group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), they would have no legitimate way of getting food and medicines. As noted here at Sudan Watch yesterday, on Thursday Sudan Radio Service (SRS) reported an LRA attack in Western Bahr el-Ghazal State. Here is a copy of the report, followed by a UNAMID briefing on the security situation at Kalma IDP camp in South Darfur, western Sudan and news headlines from around the web via The New York Times.

From SRS - Sudan Radio Service
LRA Attack Western Bahr el-Ghazal State

Thursday, 29 July 2010 - (Khartoum) – The Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA attacked Yabulu village in Western Bahr el Ghazal state last week.

The acting governor of Western Bahr el-Ghazal State and state minister of legal affairs, John Peter Miskin spoke to SRS from Wau on Wednesday and confirmed the attack.

[John Peter Miskin]: “This is not the first time that the LRA attacked Western Bahr el-Ghazal and in particular Raja County. Such an attack has been repeated several times in this part of the state and what happened exactly was that on the 23rd of this July, the LRA sneaked into the state and threatened the people in that area and killed one civilian and abducted other four civilians.

Miskin said his government will beef-up security around Wau.

[John Peter Miskin]: “Inside Wau town the situation is normal but there are arrangements to deploy more troops towards western part of Wau town which will cover up to Raja this is the area that is under threat because it is the area that is repeatedly attacked by the LRA and they are scattered in this area. That area is considered a gateway for them because they move there en route south and northwards that is why there is a high security concern for that area.”

The LRA recent activities have been concentrated in Western Equatoria state.

- - -

Darfur/UNAMID Daily Media Brief - Sunday, 01 August 2010
From United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
EL FASHER (DARFUR), western Sudan - via APO Monday, 02 August 2010:

Security situation update
The situation in Kalma Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp is currently calm but remains tense and unpredictable. UNAMID forces continue to be on high alert.

Acting Mission Chief Yonis visits South Darfur, addresses tensions in Kalma IDP camp
UNAMID Deputy Joint Special Representative (DJSR) and acting Chief of Mission Mohammed Yonis today made a field visit to South Darfur, where he met with the State’s Wali (Governor) and leaders of the troubled Kalma Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, where conflicts over IDP participation in the Doha peace process negotiations recently turned violent, resulting in fatalities estimated, according to different sources, at between five and eight.

DJSR Yonis was accompanied by UNAMID senior officials as well as a Government military liaison officer. Upon arriving in Nyala, Mr. Yonis met with the Wali (Governor) of South Darfur, Dr. Abdul Hammid Musa Kasha, to discuss the security situation in Kalma camp. The Wali asked for a combined effort by UNAMID and the State Government to disarm people in the camp and called for a joint committee to be formed in this regard. Dr. Kasha also asked UNAMID to help deliver the bodies of those killed this weekend to their families, as the authorities could not enter the settlement.

The Wali also took the opportunity of this high-level UNAMID visit to raise a number of issues such as a request for assistance from the Mission in infrastructure projects, notably road construction.

Mr. Yonis thanked the Wali for his Government’s support to UNAMID and pledged the Mission’s collaboration in resolving the Kalma issue, with the cooperation of local authorities and the camp’s IDP leaders (sheikhs). “UNAMID is here to help and to support the Government of the Sudan and the people of Darfur in achieving sustainable peace in the region,” he said

The delegation then travelled to Kalma camp, on the outskirts of Nyala, to meet with the camp’s sheikhs and was appraised of the most recent developments. DJSR Yonis urged the sheikhs to spare no effort to avert further violence and pave the way to reconciliation. The sheikhs in turn asked for UNAMID’s help in providing urgently needed humanitarian aid, mainly food, water and medical supplies, to the thousands of IDPs who gathered around its local Community Policing Center (CPC) over the weekend seeking security.

There are currently several thousand people with their meager possessions surrounding the CPC. Many IDPs have also left for Nyala to escape the violence.

UNAMID patrols
UNAMID military forces conducted 71 patrols including routine, short-range, long-range, night and humanitarian escort patrols covering 56 villages and IDP camps.

UNAMID police advisors conducted 80 patrols in villages and IDP camps.

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Sudan: Security Incidents Force MSF to Suspend Activities in Gumuruk
Programs in Other Parts of the Country Remain Open

From MSF - JULY 30, 2010:

Following three separate security incidents in one of its remote health care clinics, international emergency medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been forced to suspend all activities in Gumuruk, Jonglei State.

MSF is calling on all armed groups, community members, and political parties in Southern Sudan to respect the neutrality of MSF medical staff, activities and facilities so that lifesaving aid can be delivered to people urgently in need.

“Attacks on our staff and clinics prevent us from providing essential medical aid,” said Rob Mulder, MSF head of mission in Southern Sudan. “These incidents are totally unacceptable as they stop us from accessing patients and put our staff at risk.”

MSF runs a primary health care center in the town of Pibor in Jonglei State, and from there runs two smaller outreach clinics in more remote areas, Lekwongole and Gumuruk, which are only accessible by plane or boat during the current rainy season.

On July 1, an armed group entered the Gumuruk clinic and stole boxes of the therapeutic ready-to-use food (RUTF) with which MSF treats severely malnourished children. Three days later, more RUTF was stolen along with medical equipment. Then, on July 27, four MSF staff members travelling by boat from Pibor to Gumuruk were violently robbed by armed men.

“Though we are fully committed to providing emergency medical aid to Gumuruk community, we have been left with no other choice than to suspend all medical activities in our outreach clinic,” added Mulder.

The Gumuruk outreach clinic provides basic medical care, including general consultations, treatment for malnutrition, ante-natal care, and vaccinations for a population of more than 30,000 people. Complex medical cases requiring hospitalization are referred to the larger MSF clinic in Pibor; serious cases in need of surgery are evacuated from there by MSF plane to hospitals in Boma, or in the capital, Juba.

“More than 160 malnourished children were receiving treatment in our Gumuruk clinic,” said Gbane Mahama, MSF medical coordinator for Southern Sudan. These children had received rations to last them for a week, but with the staff evacuated, there is no one to continue their treatment. “In addition,” Mahama adds, “there were up to 20 new cases of severely malnourished children each week. Unless access to this community improves, it is impossible to evacuate those who need hospitalization or surgery, including women with obstructed labor or children with cerebral malaria or severe anemia who need blood transfusions.”

Apart from a small Ministry of Health facility in Pibor town, MSF is the only primary health care provider in this part of Jonglei State, which is home to around 150,000 people, where villages are separated by large distances, and where roads are often impassable.

MSF has been working in Sudan since 1979 providing free-of-charge medical assistance to people suffering from the effects of poor access to health care, floods, droughts, disease outbreaks, armed conflict and nutritional emergencies. MSF runs clinics and hospitals across 10 Sudanese states, including Warrap, Jonglei, Upper Nile, Unity, Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal, Western Equatoria, Central Equatoria, the transitional area of Abyei, Red Sea, Al-Gedaref and North Darfur. MSF is an independent and neutral emergency medical organization that serves all people based on impartial assessments of need, regardless of race, political, tribal or religious affiliation.

Southern Sudan: MSF forced to suspend life-saving work

MSF UK (press release) (blog) - ‎Jul 30, 2010‎

Following three separate security incidents in one of its remote healthcare clinics, international emergency medical aid organisation, Médecins Sans ...

MSF responds to violence in Bentiu, Unity State, S. Sudan (Update 1)

MSF in place to respond to violence in Bentiu, Southern Sudan
From MSF (Doctors Without Borders) Monday, 26 April 2010:

On Saturday morning, following an appeal from the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Bentiu, Unity State, Southern Sudan, the international medical organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) mobilised a medical team to evacuate three patients suffering from gunshot wounds. The patients were severely wounded during protests in Bentiu which occurred on Friday, following local radio announcements of the winner of the governorship race in Unity State.

The patients were stabilised by MoH staff in Bentiu hospital before being transferred to MSF medics who evacuated them by plane to the MSF run surgical hospital in Leer, Unity State, 110 km south of Bentiu. In Leer hospital a surgical team, which was on standby, received and operated on the patients for their life threatening conditions.

“Our surgical teams have been on standby in Southern Sudan for eventualities such as these.” said Ross Duffy, MSF head of mission, “It was fortunate for these patients that we had a plane in the vicinity and were able to respond quickly. Our surgical and logistical teams, in collaboration with the MoH, remain prepared to respond to any emergencies.”

In recent weeks MSF has strengthened its existing surgical capacity with additional surgeons and anaesthetists as well as pre-positioning surgical equipment and materials in key locations.

The emergency medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been working in Sudan since 1979. The organisation currently has permanent projects in Red Sea State, Northern Darfur, Western and Central Equatoria, Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal, Warrap, Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile States and the transitional area of Abyei. MSF also runs emergency projects in other areas. MSF is an independent and neutral aid agency that serves all people based on medical need, regardless of tribe, race, political or religious affiliation.

From SRS - Sudan Radio Service, Wednesday, 21 April 2010:

(Blue Nile) – The National Elections Commission has denied media reports of elections irregularities in Blue Nile and Unity states.

The Sudan Tribune earlier reported that NEC officials from Bentiu, Unity state are complaining of harassment from security officers of the candidate for governorship in the state Taban Deng.

It was alleged that the officers had stormed NEC offices, forcing the officials to declare Taban as the winner.

In Blue Nile state, SPLM and NCP candidates are both claiming victory over the governorship seat, accusing each other of doctoring results in their favor.

However, NEC chairman of the technical committee, Alhadi Mohamed Ahmed has disputed such reports.

[Alhadi Mohamed Ahmed]:“All information published about the Blue Nile is completely untrue, now there is a committee by NEC meeting with Malik Agar and the high elections committee for Blue Nile, no result is out because the monitoring process is still continuing and the work, but this work needs great efforts, today I was speaking with Bentiu, they are working, I talk with the chairman of the high elections committee in Bentiu, we don’t have any problem, I mean not any talk is true i was talking this morning with officials in Bentiu, they were working, the high committee is counting and other works, there are tension hear and there, but the issues are moving well.”

Al-hadi urged citizens to rely on official announcement from the NEC and not rumors.

[Alhadi Mohamed Ahmed]: “We can’t rely on anything that is said. If there is forgery just present evidence, I can’t talk about anything without prove. Who has come out and said there is forgery in such a polling center and presented evidence to NEC, and we didn’t take action? That will mean failure from our part. But till now nobody has launch an official complain claiming forgery in any center. These talks, these are just newspaper rumors. I can’t listen to such talks and say it is true. The media is open for every one, but not everything said in the media is reliable.”

Media reports have indicated several elections violations in Blue Nile and Unity States.

From SRS - Sudan Radio Service, Monday, 26 April 2010:

(Khartoum) – The independent candidate for the governorship of Unity state, Angelina Teny, says she vehemently rejects the results of the elections in Unity state.

A media spokesman for Angelina Teny, Yohanis Musa Pouk, addressed a press conference in Khartoum on Saturday.

[Yohanis Musa Pouk]: “At around 4 o’clock [on Friday] Taban declared on the state’s local radio station that he was the winner. The announcement was not made through the National Elections Commission but through one of the radio announcers. He declared that Taban won the elections and said that was the announcement coming from the NEC. Following that announcement, our people went to the street collectively and spontaneously in a non-violent manner because nobody told the people of Unity state that there was going to be any announcement of the results. They went out spontaneously and found themselves together going to the radio station to inquire about the source of the news. They were surprised by soldiers from Sudan People’s Liberation Army who fired live bullets randomly at the moving crowd and instantly two people were shot dead. One is called Choul Ruai from Koch county and the other is called Gadwich. We were not able to get his second name. Four people were hospitalized and there were other people who sustained minor injuries.”

Pouk said the people of Unity state will never accept Taban Deng as a governor.

[Yohanis Musa Pouk]: “We are seeing that it is impossible as we are going towards the year 2011 that Taban will be the governor of Unity state. Nobody in Unity state has this in mind and nobody will accept it, but this issue will not end in one day. No citizen would be able to vote for Taban. Those who voted for him are those working in the government: ministers, wives of the ministers and those in the assembly who are with him, in addition to the votes that were rigged. No ordinary citizen will ever accept that Taban should continue in power. This is not the end of it; let’s not think that this is the end of everything and that the results have been announced, no. we don’t believe in these results because they are neither “free nor fair” and we are waiting for what will come from Juba - not from Bentiu.”

Pouk claimed that according to the statistics he had received from various constituencies, Angelina Teny won 68,000 votes while Taban Deng won 44,000 votes.

Photo: Angelina Teny. Source: Sudan Tribune report, Monday, 26 April 2010 - Angelina Teny says will not accept "rigged" and "untrue" election results - excerpt:

April 25, 2010 (JUBA) – Several political parties whose candidates also contested for the governorship position in Unity state have joined Angelina Teny in disputing the results, saying Taban’s victory was not based on the actual results reported by their respective agents from all the centers which ballot papers were counted.

They have called on the Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC) Abel Alier to intervene and correct the situation.

The parties in a joint released statement said there were widespread rigging in the polling process and called for a re-count of the ballot papers.

An official close to Mrs. Teny’s campaign team said she may consider challenging the results legally in the court of law and win the case.

Mrs. Teny is the current state minister of Energy and Mining in the Government of National Unity in Khartoum and wife of the Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar Teny.

Related reports

SPLM lauds election of Malik Aggar as Blue Nile State Governor
From Sudan Tribune, Tuesday, 27 April 2010 by Ngor Arol Garang:
April 26, 2010 (WUNROK) - Pagan Amum, Secretary General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and his deputy for northern Sudan Yasir Arman have lauded election of the Malik Agar as new governor of the northern state of Southern Blue Nile (...)

Journalist arrested by security operatives in Bentiu, Unity state
From Sudan Tribune, Monday, 26 April 2010 by James Gatdet Dak:
(JUBA) – A local journalist working as correspondent for Sudanvotes and Bentiu FM radio station has been (...)

Three people killed following Taban Deng declared win in Unity state
From Sudan Tribune, Saturday, 24 April 2010 - excerpt:

April 23, 2010 (Khartoum) - Three people were killed and two others were wounded when protests were staged in the state capital Bentiu by supporters of Angelina Teny who has formally lost the race for governor in the oil-rich state.

Earlier today, the local Radio FM station in Bentiu announced that the local electoral committee declared the incumbent governor Taban Deng Gai as the winner in the tight and highly tense race. The National Elections Commission (NEC) expressed fury over what they saw as a premature move by the local electoral officials.

The NEC chairman Abel Alier said that this was not coordinated with the head office in Khartoum. He phoned Teny, wife of south Sudan’s vice president Riek Machar, to say that no final results have been released noting that the NEC is in the process of looking into the alleged inflating of figures in favor of Taban Deng by the electoral office in Bentiu before it could make the decision on who won the race.

But later in the day the NEC officially announced that Deng garnered 137,362 of the votes against 63,561 for Teny.

The chairman of the local electoral committee in Bentiu, Michael Mayul, on Friday rushed to announce Deng as the winner in a move seen by some as a way to try to avoid the verification of figures by the NEC team in Khartoum.

Preliminary results had shown that Angelina Teny got more than 68,000 votes while Taban Deng got over 44,000. The recently alleged inflated figures for Taban have more than tripled his previous votes counted by additional 56,000.

Teny had earlier warned that the electoral committee in Bentiu was under pressure by Deng to inflate his votes figures and announce him the winner.

Taban Deng locally announced winner in Sudan’s Unity state
From Sudan Tribune, Friday, 23 April 2010:
April 23, 2010 (BENTINU) – News just broke out from the local Radio FM station in Bentiu, that the incumbent governor Taban Deng Gai has been announced as winner by the head of the local electoral committee in Bentiu, before NEC committee carried out their verifications (...)
- - -

More related reports (added here on Wednesday, 28 April 2010)

BREAKING NEWS: Angelina Teny’s campaign team leader arrested in Unity State
Sudan Tribune - Wednesday 21 April 2010:
April 22, 2010 (BENTIU, Unity State) – Angelina Teny today (Wednesday) told Sudan Tribune that her team leader was arrested in front of the State High Elections Committee’s office in the presence of senior ranking officers and the team sent today from Khartoum by the National Elections Commission (NEC) headquarters...

BREAKING NEWS: Taban Deng seizes NEC office in Bentiu, refuses to accept defeat
Sudan Tribune - Tuesday 20 April 2010 - copy in full:

April 20, 2010 (BENTIU, Unity state) – The incumbent caretaker governor of the oil-rich Unity state has refused to accept defeat in the gubernatorial elections, threatening the State High Elections Committee to declare him the winner irrespective of results.

The overall results received by the electoral body in the state have shown that his main challenger, Angelina Teny, is far ahead of him by more than 24,000 extra votes.

An official close to NEC office in Bentiu who spoke on condition of anonymity told Sudan Tribune that governor’s security officers had controlled the NEC’s branch office and were conducting forceful dialogue with the electoral staff, threatening them to declare Taban as winner.

He said senior officials in the state were consulting with the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit to intervene and allow for the free and fair announcement of the gubernatorial results in the state.

“Taban Deng Gai should be told to accept defeat in a democratic and peaceful atmosphere,” the official added.

The gubernatorial candidates were scheduled to sign for the elections results today (Tuesday) in the NEC’s office during which losers were expected to accept defeat before announcement of the winner.

State officials across the country were also making consultations to respond to the situation and avoid any resort to violence until the issue is resolved peacefully. (ST)

Unity state’s Angelina Teny leads in preliminary gubernatorial election results
Sudan Tribune - Saturday, 17 April 2010:
April 16, 2010 (BENTIU, Unity state) – An independent candidate for gubernatorial position in the oil-rich Unity state is said to be leading by wide margin in preliminary counts as polling centers in the state’s nine counties slowly report in their respective results...

Unity state’s gubernatorial candidate reports widespread irregularities
Sudan Tribune - Monday 12 April 2010:
Speaking to Sudan Tribune from the state’s capital, Bentiu, Teny accused the SPLA Maj. General Dor Monyjur in particular for blocking her agents from inspecting the ballot boxes in order to make sure that they were empty...

Gubernatorial candidate campaigns against corruption in Bentiu
Sudan Tribune - Wednesday 24 February 2010 by Ngor Arol Garang:
February 23, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — An independent gubernatorial candidate in the southern state of Unity, Angelina Teny has embarked on her electoral campaign in the area with a strong focus on fighting against corruption saying it cripples development and stability of any country...

S. Sudan-Congo border: LRA attacks forcing Congolese to take refuge in southern Sudan

Lord's Resistance Army Attacks Villages, Kidnaps Children On Sudan-Congo Border (VIDEO)
By Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aka Doctors Without Borders
Monday, 10 August 2009 via The Huffington Post

With photography and video by photojournalist Brendan Bannon, Doctors Without Borders brings you the underreported story of hundreds of thousands of Congolese who are fleeing the violent attacks of Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistant Army (LRA).

Following a military offensive against them, the LRA has intensified attacks against civilians. During these attacks, entire Congolese villages are often looted and burned to the ground; people are hacked to death with machetes and women and children are abducted as sexual slaves, forced to carry looted goods or recruited to fight.

Approximately 250,000 people have been displaced from their land and livelihoods, many of them taking refuge in Southern Sudan. These are their stories:

Cross posted from Congo Watch 10 August 2009.

GLOBAL: LRA attacks in DRC displace 12000

Reuters AlertNet - ‎11 hours ago‎

Since September 2007, LRA fighters have killed 1273 people and abducted more than 2000, nearly a third of them children. More than 226000 people have been ...

- - -
From UN - Daily Press Briefing (7 August 2009) by Marie Okabe, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General - excerpt:

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR), meanwhile, says that an unprecedented 55 rebel attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have displaced some 12,500 civilians in the past month alone. This is a spike from 23 LRA attacks in May and 34 in June.

UNHCR says that the Ugandan rebels have murdered 1,273 civilians and abducted 655 children and 1,427 adults. A number of women were also raped and houses were looted and torched. Fleeing civilians have found shelter in public buildings including schools and churches. And the situation is made worse by a lack of basic medical supplies at local hospitals, while aid agencies have so far reached only half of the internally displaced persons. And that’s due to widespread insecurity in the region. You can read more about this upstairs.

Sudan

The World Food Programme (WFP) fears that the recent massacre of 161 people in Southern Sudan’s Jonglei State might lead to a spate of deadly retaliatory attacks. Some 700 people have been killed since March in the region while another 19,000 were displaced. WFP and its partners have called on the Government to put an end to inter-tribal fighting, which is endangering the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Full story