Clashes erupt in Sudan's Blue Nile state

[News_Editor]

Clashes erupt in Sudan's Blue Nile state

2011-09-03 00:00:27 GMT+7 (ICT)

KHARTOUM (BNO NEWS) -- Fighting broke out in Sudan's Blue Nile state on Friday between forces of the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the Sudan Tribune reported.

The house of Blue Nile state governor Malik Agar, who is also chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), was allegedly targeted during a military offensive launched by Sudan People's Armed Forces (SAF) in the state capital Al-Damazin, SPLM-N's secretary-general Yasir Arman said. "We wish to assure SPLM-N's supporters and members of the general public that Malik Aggar is safe," he said, promising to give more details within the next few days.

He added that the ruling National Congress Party would be held accountable for attacking the house of the governor and the "atrocities they are committing against the civilian population." "This debunks the deceptive ceasefire announced by [President] Al-Bashir in South Kordofan because it was declared in order to prepare for an attack against Al-Damazin," Arman said, as cited by the Sudan Tribune.

Arman did not explain what triggered the fighting, however. Meanwhile, the Sudan official news agency carried statements by SAF saying it has been attacked by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

The eruption of fighting in Blue Nile could put the entire Sudan at risk of a full scale war. The government in Khartoum has been engaged in clashes with SPLA forces in South Kordofan, another state in the north that is on the southern border, since last June.

Earlier this month, the UN urged for an independent investigation into possible crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Kadugli and elsewhere in Southern Kordofan state in June. According to a UN report, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and illegal detention, enforced disappearances, attacks against civilians, looting of civilian homes and destruction of property took place in the region, resulting in massive displacements.

South Sudan became the world's newest country when it broke away from Sudan on July 9 as a culmination of a six-year peace process which began in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Government of Sudan and the SPLM.

More than two million people, most of them civilians who died due to starvation and drought, were killed during the 20-year civil war in Sudan. Although there were hopes that South Sudan secession would lead to peace, violence has continued both on a local level in South Sudan as well as with the Sudanese forces.

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