Solidarité avec le Soudan du Sud
Voici une mise à jour au sujet de la Solidarité avec le Soudan du Sud envoyée par le Frère Bill Firman, le Directeur exécutif de Solidarité avec le Sud Soudan, un frère des Ecoles chrétiennes, qui réside à Juba.
La croute supérieure d’un bon pâté paraît tout à fait dure et solide quand on la regarde. C’est ce que je vois au Sud-Soudan actuellement. Là où je suis la vie semble normale et calme. On pourrait facilement oublier ce qui se passe dans certaines parties du pays. Mais qui sait ce qui se trouve sous la croute ? Nous savons qu’il n’y a presque personne à Malakal sinon des soldats et nous entendons dire que des cadavres restent sans sépulture dans les rues. Des nouvelles de Malakal et d’autres régions de conflit sont vagues et parfois contradictoires. Il y a des proclamations et des contre proclamations. Les quelques dernières semaines ont été relativement calmes, me semble-t-il, cependant nous n’avons aucune certitude si la croute va ou non s’effondrer. Y a-t-il seulement quelques points mauvais et isolés sous la croute ou est-ce que tout se gâte et est en train d’empirer ? Qui peut procurer l’antibiotique nécessaire ? Qui fait quoi, à qui, et pour quoi ? Je ne le sais vraiment pas. Ce que je sais bien, c’est que beaucoup d’innocents ont une vie profondément perturbée non seulement par la violence au Sud-Soudan, mais par des luttes continuelles dans les régions voisines. Je crains que la prochaine saison humide puisse hâter l’effondrement de la croute. Peut-être que le parapluie des Nations Unies sera assez grand pour protéger la croute, mais pourquoi les Nations Unies elles-mêmes sont-elles tellement attaquées par des politiciens ? Excusez, je ne sais pas répondre à ces questions. Je ne peux voir que la croute. Je peux ne pas être Salomon, mais mon petit doigt me dit que ce n’est pas maintenant le moment d’essayer de plonger mes doigts dans le pâté.
Ci-dessous, vous pouvez lire plus, en anglais, sur le Soudan du Sud.
The latest estimates now speak of more than 20,000 killed in the recent conflict within South Sudan and more than one million displaced. Who really knows? What we do know is that the wet season is coming, that many people will not be able to plant crops and that it will be a hungry time for too many. There is a developing concern that those states in South Sudan that have remained stable may be drawn into the conflict by an invasion of very hungry people from the areas of conflict seeking food. We read that ‘United Nations World Food Programmed (WFP) and its partners have so far provided food and nutrition assistance to nearly half a million conflict-affected people in South Sudan…. WFP is using a combination of airlifts and airdrops to reach tens of thousands of people in remote, hard-to-reach areas.’
The humanitarian crisis within South Sudan, however, is not confined only to South Sudanese but also involves people fleeing from their homelands in the north to places such as Maban and Yida. Maban was a small town in South Sudan but now houses 122,000 refugees in four large camps. Most have fled from another ‘forgotten war’ the attack by the Khartoum government on the people of the state of Blue Nile, technically part of the north (Sudan), but ethically aligned with South Sudan. It was disturbing to read in an article in the Sudan Tribune yesterday:
‘Blue Nile refugees are in critical situation and need the protection and support of the United Nations agencies, as they are asked to evacuate their camps in South Sudan’s Maban county…. the Sudanese refugees from Blue Nile state are facing a difficult choice as the host community of Maban county in Unity state, which is controlled by the South Sudanese government, asked them to leave the area… Tensions between two communities started early this month, as a result of accusations of livestock theft and cutting down of trees has aggravated their situation.’
Sudan is bombing the Nuba Mountains area, where the people are also ethnically South Sudanese but part of another one of the Sudan states, South Kordofan. Many people have fled from this conflict and there are some 82,000 people in Yida in South Sudan. 25,000 of them are school age children. It is also reported by WFP that “Nearly 85,000 refugees (from South Sudan) have arrived in Ethiopia, many in very poor condition with alarmingly high levels of malnutrition”
Further, there are many thousands of South Sudanese who have fled into Kenya and Uganda – and some families, have been moved there out of harm’s way, by those ‘big men’ who can afford to do so. As always it is the ordinary people who suffer the heavy burden of war while those, who cause the conflict, side-step direct involvment and negate any impact on their own families.
In the east, the Darfur region of Sudan, well publicised a few years ago because of the conflict there, continues to be an unstable area. The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) describes itself as ‘a force representing the interests of the Darfuris in dissent against the government’ in Khartoum. The JEM joined the South Sudan Government troops in the attack on Leer, a Nuer town in South Sudan. After looting and burning, the JEM returned to Darfur, probably well satisfied with their spoils. War always has its own reward for some – and tragedy for others.
Like many of the protagonists in the diverse conflicts of Sudan and South Sudan, the JEM try to claim the high morale ground. The JEM spokeperson says that JEM ‘is ready for dialogue and coordination with any political force’ which sounds reasonable until you read the rest of the sentence, ‘to overthrow the regime…’ In South Sudan, Riek Machar describes his rebels as the ‘pro-democracy forces trying to overthrow the Dictator in Juba, Salva Kiir’– who is actually the elected leader.
Does all this sound messy and confusing? I think it does and it is! Solomon where are you?
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Br Bill