Sudan: The plight of the Nuba people

Southern Kordofan lies on the border between the north and South Sudan [John D McHugh]

People & Power - Sudan: War and Independence - Gallery

The border state is strategically and geographically important and has significant reserves of oil [John D McHugh]

Last year the regime of Omar al-Bashir launched an offensive against rebel forces in the area despite the presence of UN peace keepers [John D McHugh]

Fleeing civilians are telling stories of enforced migration, mass executions, families hiding in caves and the indiscriminent bombing of civilian areas by the armed forces of the Khartoum government [John D McHugh]

The Nuba mountains in the heart of Southern Kordofan are home to the Nuba people [John D McHugh]

Religiously mixed, Christian, Muslim and Animist, they have been historically discriminated against by the Arabic regime in Khartoum [John D McHugh]

But many fear this latest campaign is already taking on the character of brutal ethnic cleansing of the resource rich area [John D McHugh]

In the 1990s hundreds of thousands died in a merciless campaign of terror by the government [John D McHugh]

Partly as a result, the Nuba people from that region supported John Garang(***)s Sudan People(***)s Liberation Army (SPLA) in its long civil war with Khartoum, becoming some of his most loyal and affective fighters [John D McHugh]

Once a respected commander in the SPLA under John Garang, Abdel Aziz and his Nuban forces were central to Garang(***)s partial victory in the long and bitter civil war with Khartoum [John D McHugh]

Today, Abdel Aziz and his SPLA rebels in South Kordofan are fighting for a new, restructured central government in Khartoum [John D McHugh]

The Khartoum government is determined to crush any resistance to its rule in the region [John D McHugh]

The area has been declared a no-fly zone and government jet fighters patrol the sky [John D McHugh]

The planes bring in aid and depart with displaced passengers [John D McHugh]

The missiles fired from jet fighters are not the only weapons used against civilians [John D McHugh]

Khartoum(***)s armed forces also use bombs, dropped from Antonov transport planes [John D McHugh]

In South Kordofan(***)s only operating hospital there are many victims of the bombings [John D McHugh]

Large numbers of children have been injured in the attacks and most medical staff were evacuated when the bombings began [John D McHugh]

A 15-year-old girl sustained a serious brain injury [John D McHugh]

While Juba is celebrating independence, the war in South Kordofan is going on - and the determined Nuba fighters under Aziz(***)s control continue to fight against the superior forces of Khartoum(***)s SAF [John D McHugh]