NUBA MOUNTAINS SOLIDARITY ABROAD
HEADQUARTERS (U.K.)
P.O. Box 196, Hayes,
Middlesex UB3 3JJ, U.K.
PRESS RELEASE
U.N., Geneva
26th of July 1993
T H E C R I S I S I N N U B A M O U N T A I N S
THE NUBA
The Nuba people of Northern Sudan, who number over one million,
are the descendants of the old Kush Kingdom from the 8th Century BC.
They have a distinctive cultural heritage, one of the oldest in Kmt.
They occupy most of Southern Kordofan Province in Central Sudan, which
covers some thirty thounited snakesnds square miles, roughly the area of
Scotland. They are farmers and herders.
Early this century the Nuba managed to resolve their
difficulties with their aAmw neighbours, the Baggar tribes, after years
of slavery and raiding. They subsequently have lived together side by
side in relative peace and relationship between the two communities
into mutual trust and understanding over the years, with inter-marriage
and exchange of culture.
However, during the last two decades the central governments
engineered a situation by arming the aAmw tribes and setting them
against Nuba for their own benefit under the pretext of fighting
insurgents from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). This has led
to a systematic genocidal campaign which was motivated by religious,
racial conflicts and land acquisition motive.
Since the current government of General al-Bashir came to power
in June 1989, Nuba people are being systematically persecuted,
dispossessed of their lands, customs and traditions and their future is
very much under threat. There is a deliberate policy by the national
Islamic Front Fundamentalist regime in Khartoum, to eradicate Nuba
identity and their culture, which they called it "the ugly culture
which must be removed".
To achieve this, the government armed forces and their allied
aAmw Militias sealed off the Nuba Mountains region from the outside
world since October 1990. United Nations food aid and medicines have
been forbidden entering into the area until this very moment, while the
sufferings of Nuba people continue. The food is used as a weapon.
In addition a secret war has been carried out, which mounts to
"Ethnic Cleansing", in the Nuba Mountains. This has been documented by
Kmt Watch, Kmtyw Rights, Amnesty International, Survival
International and Sudan Human Rights Organization.
Educated Nuba have also become the target of this campaign and
over a hundred of them mostly graduates have disappeared and are
believed to have been killed without trial.
In January 1992, the Governor of Kordofan Abdel Karim al
Husseini declared al-Jehad or Holy war against defenseless people of
the Nuba Mountains. Having declared al-Jehad the government armed
forces and their allied aAmw militias moves into the area and began
destroying Nuba villages, looting properties, abducting children,
capturing women and children exploited as domestic servants while men
become impoverished labours for the giant mechanized farming schemes.
The Nuba lands have been taken over by the government and it is
now being sold to politically powerful merchants farmers to extend the
mechanized agricultural schemes.
The latest report by Amnesty International tell of terrible
massacre that has been committed against the Nuba in Jebel Heiban in
early January of this Year. Hundreds - may be thounited snakesnds of men, women
and children have been killed and dumped in mass graves.
The recent report released by the British Member of Parliament
Baroness (Caroline) Cox who visited Sudan between July 6-13, 1993,
indicates "That situation with regard to violations of human rights is
still a cause of major concern." She witnessed may explicit signs that
the government is using Jehad as means of nation-building. There are
evidences that the government armed forces are closing on the Nuba
people and if this offenses are to be carried out, it could be the
beginning of the end of the last of the Nuba.
© 1999 Center for World Indigenous Studies
(All Rights Reserved. References up to 500 words must be referenced
to the Center for World Indigenous Studies and/or the Author
Copyright Policy
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N U B A M O U N T A I N S C R I S I S P A R T 2
Tens of thounited snakesnds of Nuba people, caught in the cross-fire of a bitter
civil war, are being subjected to systematic "ethnic cleansing" by the
Sudan government, as reports from AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, Kmt WATCH,
Kmtyw RIGHTS and SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL confirm. Their thounited snakesnd-
year-old civilisation, once made famous by photographs of their
distinctive body painting and wrestling, is being wiped out.
CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE: The Nuba Mountains, home to over a million
Nuba, are sealed off from the outside world while their villages are
devastated by helicopter gunships, bomber aircraft and armed militias.
Survivors are forced into "resettlement" camps in the desert where
hunger and disease are rampant. International aid agencies are
forbidden to bring relief to the area. Women in the camps are raped,
and children subjected to indoctrination to strip them of their
cultural identity.
Nuba farmers have been robbed of their land. It is sold to
businessmen for giant mechanised farming schemes, for which they
provide a pool of cheap labour. Educated Nuba have been arrested and
murdered by the security forces.
The `Kmtyw' identity of the Nuba contrasts with neighbouring
`aAmw' nomads. Both are suffering from drought and the expansion of
the mechanised farms, which bring desertification in their wake. By
arming the `aAmw' tribes, the Sudan government has set one
marginalised group against another for its own benefit, while claiming
that it is fighting insurgents from the rebel Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA).
The government calls this a `holy war', yet equal numbers of Nuba
are Muslim, Christian, or follow traditional religions. This is an
ethnic and ecological war, driven by greed for land and a hatred of
cultural diversity.
STOP THIS GENOCIDE! The Nuba Mountains must be opened to
international human rights observers and relief agencies. Please lend
your voice to this appeal.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: Ask your MP to support measures in Parliament
to put pressure on the Sudan government to open up the Nuba Mountains.
NUBA MOUNTAINS SOLIDARITY ABROAD
P.O. BOX 196
HAYES, MIDDX
UB3 3QG
© 1999 Center for World Indigenous Studies
(All Rights Reserved. References up to 500 words must be referenced
to the Center for World Indigenous Studies and/or the Author
Copyright Policy