In Pictures

Eyes of Nuba

A look at a largely forgotten conflict in Sudan’s isolated Nuba Mountains.

When South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, many hoped for an end to decades of civil war.

4 Feb 2014

The genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region has made global headlines since conflict began there in 2003. Humanitarian organisations took action, aid poured into the region, and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring province of Southern Kordofan – and particularly in the Nuba Mountains – a similar catastrophe was underway. Yet nobody seemed to know about it.

It is extremely difficult to reach the rugged and isolated Nuba Mountains. The United Nations and NGOs left the region when fighting began in 2011 because the Sudanese government could not, or would not, guarantee their safety. Few non-local journalists have ventured in, and little information trickles out to the outside world.

But in the middle of this largely forgotten war, one group of citizen journalists is determined to make the world take notice. Instead of taking up arms, they take up cameras – and tell the story of a war hardly anyone has heard of.

Watch more in the Al Jazeera film: Eyes of Nuba

But in the Nuba Mountains, which remained part of Sudan when the new border was drawn, tensions erupted into new violence.

This remote region is being devastated by a military campaign initiated by the Sudanese government.

Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and injured in the conflict. Fear and starvation have displaced up to half a million people.

Sudanese bombers randomly attack and burn villages, in an effort to drive out the local population.

Sudan(***)s President Omar al-Bashir has vowed to crush opposition groups, and has been been accused of ethnic cleansing of non-Arab peoples.

Rebels belonging to the SPLA-N (Sudan People(***)s Liberation Army North) are locked in battle with government forces over the Nuba Mountains area.

Several factors are at play in the ongoing war: politics, race, religion, and possibly resources, as the mountains are believed to hold large reserves of oil and minerals.