From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: SUDAN: FURORE OVER THE DEATH OF U.N. WORKERS, AND JOURNALIST
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 01:13:13 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Asia, southern
Reference: United Nations
Title: SUDAN: FURORE OVER THE DEATH OF U.N. WORKERS, AND JOURNALIST


nairobi, oct 7 (ips/horace awori) -- the death at the weekend of
three u.n. aid workers and a norwegian journalist in southern
sudan has caused a furore between the sudanese people's
liberation army (spla) the sudanese government and the united
nations.

the spla faction led by col john garang has accused the
rival nasir faction, the sudanese governemnt and some u.n.
officials of carrying out a propoganda campaign against garang.

''these people are creating the impression that the garang
spla is finished and that garang is on his way out'', dr elijag
malok, the representative here of the sudan people's liberation
movement (splm) -- the spla's political arm -- told ips
wednesday.

malok was reacting to a u.n. report issued here tuesday that
two u.n. aid workers -- kenyan james ngure and wilma gomez of
the philippines -- ''were not killed in a crossfire or a field
combat situation, and (they) died of single gunshot wounds to
the head''.

however, malok says this is a smear campaign against the
spla, and asked: ''how can an autopsy prove it was the garang
faction that killed the four people. who are the forensic
experts who have done the investigations to pin this on the
mainstream spla?''

the report says the spla tried to mislead the united nations
about the deaths by saying the four were abducted by rebel spla
commander william nyuon and then killed in crossfire.

according to the united nations, the other dead persons --
norwegian journalist helge hummelvoll and burmese aid worker
myint maung -- were shot in the back, ''probably as they tried
to escape''.

the united nations is apparently angry because it has ''been
misinformed by the spla and the rebels have been arrogant and
obstructive to the u.n. relief effort''.

''we cannot let the spla get away with this'', says the u.n.
report.

however, an official of the norwegian non-governmental
organisation -- norwegian people's aid (npa) which still
operates in the garang-held areas of southern sudan -- accuses
some u.n. officials of bias against the spla ''to spite'' the
organisation. (more/ips)


sudan: furore (2)

''the united nations is in fact holding the rest of the
population at ransom since the killing of the four people by
suspending all food relief work in eastern equatoria and
discouraging any agencies from going in'', an npa official, who
declined to be named, told ips here wednesday.

malok says since the recent defection of garang's deputy
commander, william nyuon, ''khartoum has been bombing us for a
whole week.

''the bombs are aimed at the camps of the displaced people
and then the united nations accuses us of obstruction while
nothing is said about the khartoum (government) bombing''.

asked about the seriousness of the william nyuon rebellion,
malok says nyuon ''is of no military or political significance
and is practically a man on the run for his life after his
rebellion failed''.

the splm official accuses nyuon of working for the sudanese
government ''just like the rest of the nasir clique who would
like the status quo in sudan''.

''a revolution is like a river'', he told ips. ''at times the
current is very swift and everything gets carried away but then
comes the low season and the river flows slowly, leaving carcases
and other dead things behind.

''this is happening to the spla. we do not expect after nine
years of war to still carry everybody with us''.

but garang's opponents have a different story. five of his
former detainees, led by commander chol deng alaak, last week
called for his overthrow, denouncing him (garang) as a
''dictator''.

in an interview with ips, the five said garang had become
''a liability for the people's struggle and an impediment to
the development and progress of our movement toward the noble
aims of national liberation''.

the five spla leaders, all dinkas, the predominant people in
southern sudan -- said their call to topple garang had nothing
to do with tribalism. garang is also a dinka.

they say they were all detained by garang with the help of
the ousted mengistu haile mariam regime in ethiopia and were
recently released because of international pressure and the
sympathy of some soldiers in the garang faction of the spla.

the spla took up arms in 1983 against the political and
economic marginalisation of the black african non-islamic south
by the dominant arab and muslim north. hundreds of thousands
have died as a result of the fighting and starvation, with over
two million southerners refugees.  (end/ips/ha/apc/oa/92)

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