The Nuba allied themselves with the SPLA in 1985, after government-backed Arab militias attacked their villages. The militias burned crops and homes, rounding up and killing local leaders. Anyone who escaped into the SPLA areas got pushed into the rocky hillsides where farming is difficult. Government troops tried to stage an ambush just days before this crossing took place. War has become a way of life for many Sudanese.
Military offensives fade away during the rainy season, when it is difficult to transport troops.
But after the rains pass and the crops are harvested, the cycle of destruction begins anew. In December, the World Food Program issued a warning that Sudan might be facing another food crisis in 2001. The Nuba Mountains, which stretch across the central plains of Sudan in South Kordofan state, were cited as an at-risk region. Hunger is also one of the enemies of the people in the Nuba Mountains. The staple crop of the Nuba is sorghum, rich in protein but slow to mature.