Many in the Nuba region are Muslim - religious tolerance is the norm, and intermarriage is common. Nuba Muslims say that because they are black and not Arab, they have never been accepted by the Arab north. The Nuba threw in with the SPLA in 1985, and since then the government has enforced a strict blockade against the region. Even though the United Nations warned last month that the Nuba region is threatened by starvation this year due to drought, the government in Khartoum will not allow aid deliveries to the south. In the village of Mirawi, that means things like salt and sugar are rare commodities, and running water is unheard of.
Malnutrition is widespread.
It is only if you are lucky to survive a shelling or bombardment. The fragments of that iron, people take it and try to make agriculture tools or knives or axes - that is the only material which could be found. Kodi's words are borne out as a convoy of rebel soldiers passes through the village. Just like everyone else in the region, the rebels walk as their only means of transportation, sometimes covering 50 miles in a day. The soldiers plan to walk toward the only functioning airstrip in the region, a clandestine runway about a 10-hour march from here.