More than 700 people were displaced in South Kordofan between 16 and 23 January due to fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and allied militia and the SPLA-North rebels, according to a group that monitors violence in the area.
“An intensive [SAF] bombing campaign continued in South Kordofan in this reporting period,” said the South Kordofan Blue Nile Coordination Unit (SKBNCU).
The SKBNCU said there were two “large scale ground offensives” by the SAF from Talodi heading north toward Kauda in Heiban County and from Kadugli toward Um Sirdiba and Daloka.
“Civilian populations in both of these areas were displaced to other SPLM-N controlled locations in South Kordofan further away from the front lines of the conflict,” the report said.
The SKBNCU further alleged that Sudan dropped over 100 bombs in late December and early January in South Kordofan’s Buram County.
“In about 20 separate aerial bombardment incidents, more than 100 bombs were dropped on civilian locations in [Buram county], resulting in at least 6 persons being killed, including two children,” between 13 December 2014 and 7 January 2015, the SKBNCU report said.
More than 30 people were injured, at least 40 homes damaged, numerous farmer’s fields burnt, and two churches destroyed in those incidents, according to SKBNCU.
The report said that bombardment of villages in Blue Nile occured on 12 and 20 January as well, noting that civilians in these locations were not displaced.
Related:
Six civilians killed in bombing in South Kordofan (27 Jan.)
‘Deliberate and targeted’ bombing of MSF hospital in Nuba Mountains (23 Jan.)
File photo: Area residents gathered at a UN compound in Kadugli (Paul Banks / UNMIS)