From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: SUDAN: DISASTER WORSE THAN SOMALIA
Date: 13 Sep 92 17:08:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700458:000:4674
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Sep 13 10:08:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: SUDAN: DISASTER WORSE THAN SOMALIA 

/* Written 12:04 am  Sep 13, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: SUDAN: DISASTER WORSE THAN SOMALIA LOOMING


nairobi, sep 10 (ips/horace awori) -- a human tragedy worse than
what is happening in somalia is in the making in sudan, warns
one of the foreign missionaries expelled from juba, the southern
sudanese capital, last week.

''i have been in sudan for more than three decades, but the
situation i left in juba is the worst i have witnessed so far'',
agostino castelino told ips here late wednesday.

he was speaking shortly before leaving for rome to brief
the vatican about the growing problems of the people and the
church in sudan, africa's largest country.

about 300,000 people are trapped in juba, ''held as a human
shield by the government forces which have mined all the routes
out of the city to prevent the civilians from leaving'',
castelino said.

an eyewitness report made available to ips says 2,000
people, including children, were recently massacred in juba
and their bodies dumped into the river nile.

the report is by a sudanese national who escaped the massacre
and who prefers anonymity to protect the rest of his family
still in juba.

the witness says the madarat mechanised battalion in juba
also indulged in rape.

southern sudanese officers in the army, police and the
wildlife department are also subjected to attack on suspicion of
being sympathisers of the rebel southern sudan people's
liberation army (spla).

the expulsion of all foreign missionaries from juba aims
''to remove any undesirable witnesses to the atrocities being
committed against the innocent civilian population of juba town
at the hands of the sudan fundamentalist islamic troops''.

this verdict is contained in a report compiled by bishops
paride taban of the catholic diocese of torit and joseph agasi
abiangite of the diocese of yambio in southern sudan.

''the sudan government fundamentalist islamic troops turned
upon the unarmed civilians in juba town (recently), killing
several persons under the pretext that they were sympathisers of
the spla'', the bishops say.

according to castelino, there are ''nine million sudanese the
world seems to have forgotten. for some of these people, there
is no information at all about them. (more/ips)


sudan: disaster (2)

''my heart aches for these people and the fact that the world
has forgotten them. you can reach somalia, at least, but there
are areas of sudan which cannot be reached''.

he condemned the world for ignoring sudan.

''the oau (organisation of african unity) sits quietly in
neighbouring addis ababa, ethiopia (its headquarters) while
thousands are at risk of starvation to death in juba and
elsewhere in the country.

''no one in africa is asking why there has been war in sudan
since the 1950s. are we waiting for the horrific television
pictures before we can take action, when in fact it will be
too late?

''the southern sudanese need help. the arab north is getting
all the help it needs from other arab countries and
fundamentalist iran.

''in the name of the thousands of the threatened lives in
juba, i appeal to the international community for action to
evacuate the innocent people caught up in the fighting'', the
priest said.

castelino's call comes in the wake of a proposal by the sudan
relief and rehabilitation association (srra), a civilian and
relief arm of the sudan people's liberation army (spla), to
create safe havens for the civilians caught up in the fighting.

the proposal, sent to the united nations, the oau and various
relief agencies, calls for a 72-hour cease-fire by the warring
parties to allow the evacuation of the juba population to areas
on the east and west banks of the nile not controlled by either
side.

observers have long suspected that the army in juba is using
the civilian population as hostages against an all-out spla
assault on the besieged town. the loss of juba would be a major
blow to the military regime in khartoum.

however, spla artillery opened fire on a u.n. relief
airlift plane, sunday, offloading food supplies at juba airport.
it was the third time in two weeks u.n. planes flying in have
been shelled, and the u.n. has since announced that it is to
suspend the airlift until both sides guaranteed the operations
safety.

the spla alledges that the government is using relief flights
to supply its beleaguered garrison with food and ammunition.

(story received incomplete)
n118