| Sudan–SPLM-N conflict (2011) | |||||
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Map of Sudan with the areas of conflict as of December 2011 in red. |
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| Belligerents | |||||
| Sudan People's Armed Forces | Sudan Revolutionary Front
Sudan People's Liberation Army (border clashes) |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Omar al-Bashir | Abdelaziz al-Hilu Malik Agar Khalil Ibrahim † |
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The Sudan–SPLM-N conflict is an ongoing conflict in 2011 between the Army of Sudan and the Sudan Revolutionary Front, particularly the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), a northern affiliate of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement in South Sudan. The conflict started as a dispute over the oil-rich region of Abyei in the months leading up to South Sudanese independence, though it is also related to the nominally resolved war in Darfur. The conflict is estimated to affect a total of 1.4 million people, and to have displaced over 200,000 people.[2]
In early September 2011, Sudanese forces clashed with the SPLM-N in Blue Nile state, seizing control of the state capital of Ad-Damazin and ousting Governor Malik Agar, the leader of the SPLM-N's Blue Nile branch. Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) militants allied with the SPLM-N marched into the state of North Kordofan in December 2011, sparking confrontations with the Sudanese military that led to the death of the JEM's leader, Khalil Ibrahim. The spread of the conflict has sparked concerns that the fighting could lead to a third Sudanese civil war.
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Although South Kordofan is north of the international border separating Sudan and South Sudan, many of its residents (particularly in the Nuba Mountains) identify with the South. Many residents fought on the side of southern rebels during the long civil war.[3]
South Kordofan was not allowed to participate in the January 2011 referendum to create South Sudan, and the "popular consultation" process they were promised also failed to take place.[2]
Tensions rose around the status of the Abyei Area, an oil-rich region that was statutorily part of both South Kordofan and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states, in May 2011 ahead of South Sudan's scheduled independence. As South Kordofan was slated to remain with the North while Northern Bahr el Ghazal was seceding together with the rest of what was then Southern Sudan, the status of Abyei was unclear, and both Khartoum and Juba claimed the area as their own.
On 19 May 2011, militants reportedly affiliated with the Sudan People's Liberation Army attacked a convoy of mixed Sudanese Army and UNMIS vehicles 10km north of Abyei town as they withdrew from the area's administrative centre,[4] drawing sharp condemnation from both the Sudanese government and the United Nations.[5]
At least 15 Sudanese tanks entered Abyei town on 20 May, beginning large-scale fighting in Abyei. By 22 May, the Sudanese military had seized control of the town, and most of Abyei's residents had fled south toward Bahr el Ghazal. Both the Sudanese government and the government of Southern Sudan accused one another of violating the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.[6]
On 6 June 2011, armed conflict broke out between the forces of Northern and Southern Sudan in broader South Kordofan state, ahead of the scheduled independence of the South on 9 July.[7][8] The Northern army said that SPLA launched an attack on a police station and stole weapons prompting a response. The SPLA claimed that the Northern army attempted to disarm their units by force.[9]
On 14 June, the UN accused the Sudanese government of carrying out an "intensive bombing campaign" near the north-south border which has led to "huge suffering" for civilians in South Kordofan. Some 140,000 people have fled the fighting. Aid agency offices have been looted, churches have been ransacked and buildings destroyed. Aid workers say that ethnic Nubans are being targeted by the northern military and Arab militias. This was denied by Rabbie Abdelattif Ebaid, an adviser to Sudan's information minister, who said that only rebel fighters were being targeted.[3]
On 15 June, US President Barack Obama has called for a ceasefire urging both the North and South to "live up to their responsibilities" to prevent a return to civil war. The head of the worldwide Anglican church, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said: "The humanitarian challenge is already great, and the risk of another Darfur situation, with civilian populations at the mercy of government-supported terror, is a real one".[8]
On 19 June, Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir accused the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (northern sector) (SPLM-N) of "betrayal" in South Kordofan. "If they want war...we will show them practically like what happened in Abyei and South Kordofan" Bashir said. "It is better that they [SPLM-N] come to us in good terms and we will be better than them," he added. The Northern Army said that it would continue its military campaign in South Kordofan, which included aerial bombardment, until it crushes the rebellion led by former deputy governor and leading SPLM-N figure Abdelaziz al-Hilu. Fighting intensified around the state capital of Kadugli.[9]
Fighting continued after South Sudan gained independence on 9 July, though the Sudanese government insisted that order had been restored in South Kordofan proper.
A UN report leaked on 18 July documented alleged war crimes in South Kordofan, blaming both sides but reserving many of its heaviest accusations for the Sudanese government. The following day, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos called for an independent investigation into atrocities possibly committed during the conflict. Amos said the government of Sudan should lift its restrictions on access to the region.[10] The alleged human rights abuses include "forced disappearances, targeting of UN staff and summary executions."[11]
Blue Nile Governor Malik Agar, the leader of the SPLM-N, warned that a wider war could develop unless the conflict ends quickly. Agar claimed that rebel groups across Sudan could join forces and march on Khartoum. His argument appeared to be bolstered by the declaration of the Justice and Equality Movement, the largest rebel group in Darfur, that it had joined forces with the SPLM-N in South Kordofan for the first time on 19 July. A JEM spokesman said 150 Sudanese soldiers were killed while three JEM fighters had been captured. The Sudanese government claimed it had no evidence of JEM participation in the conflict and that the situation in South Kordofan was calm.[12] However, a JEM leader among the militants captured was later sentenced to death by hanging, state-run media reported on 27 August.[13] Around the same time, the Sudan Tribune reported that the SPLM-N, the JEM, and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) had formed a tentative alliance to resist the federal government in Khartoum.[14]
On 1 September, SPLM-N rebels in South Kordofan claimed the military was deliberately destroying crops and farms belonging to the Nuba people in an attempt to starve the state into submission.[15] Meanwhile, state-run media claimed SPLM-N guerrillas killed 17 civilians, including children, and wounded 14 in the Kalugi region of South Kordofan the same day.[16]
A spokesman for the Sudanese military said that SPLM-N militants attacked army positions in Ad-Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile state, late on 1 September. Governor Malik Agar disputed this account, saying the army attacked Blue Nile state institutions first, including his official residence.[17] The military quickly took control of Ad-Damazin, and Khartoum sacked Agar and replaced him with a military governor. Agar and his allies regrouped in southern Blue Nile. On 2 September, the federal government declared a state of emergency in the state. The Sudanese Air Force reportedly carried out strike missions, bombing SPLM-N villages and towns.[18] The SPLM-N claimed four civilians were killed in an aerial bombing of Kormok.[19]
The SPLM-N's Darfuri allies, the JEM and the SLM, issued a joint statement on 4 September condemning the Sudanese military's use of force against the SPLM-N in Blue Nile, calling it a plot to spread "chaos and killing" across the country. They also called on the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Blue Nile, Darfur, and South Kordofan.[20]
The Sudanese military claimed on 10 September to have broken an SPLM-N "siege" of Qiessan, near the Ethiopian border, and evacuated its wounded from the town, though it was unclear whether they took control of Qiessan outright or just escaped from the area. Both Agar and Yahia Mohamed Kheir, the military governor appointed by Bashir, claimed control of 80 percent of Blue Nile state. Meanwhile, the Sudanese government said 5,000 people had fled their homes in Blue Nile as a result of the fighting, and Information Minister Sana Hamad al-Awad claimed it had proof the South Sudanese government was paying the salaries of SPLM-N fighters across the border.[21]
The Sudanese military seized control of Kurmuk, the former stronghold of the SPLM-N in Blue Nile state, on 2 November. President Omar al-Bashir visited the town four days later to declare it "liberated". He also threatened South Sudan with war, accusing it of supporting the SPLM-N in its anti-government activities.[22][23]
On 10 November, it was reported that the Sudanese government bombed Yida camp in South Sudan's Unity state soon after 12:00 GMT the same day. Two Antonov makeshift bombers were seen leaving the area. They were said to have dropped five bombs, four detonating. The local official Miabek Lang said at least 12 people had been killed and 20 wounded during the strike. The Sudanese government has denied the claims.[24]
Darfuri factions and the SPLM-N in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states announced the formation of an alliance called the Sudanese Revolutionary Front on 12 November. The stated goal of the coalition is to overthrow the Bashir government and install a democratic system in Sudan.[25]
SPLM-N fighters in South Kordofan reported turning back Sudanese army elements attempting to dislodge them from positions in Warni on 10 December, as well as the capture of the localities of Abu al-Hassan and al-Rashad three days earlier. The battles left 19 dead, a spokesman for the rebel group claimed.[26]
By 12 December, fighting had shifted to Taruje, near the international border with South Sudan. In a related skirmish, South Sudanese and Sudanese regular divisions clashed at Jau, a disputed town on the border, in what a Sudanese army spokesman described as a victory for Khartoum's soldiers.[26]
On 21 and 22 December, students began protesting at the University of Khartoum and the Red Sea University in a flare-up of anti-government protests that began in January. A number of Darfuri students at the Red Sea University threatened to leave in protest after several student leaders were arrested late on 21 December, and by 25 December, they had declared their allegiance to the Sudan Revolutionary Front and were calling for the overthrow of the Sudanese government.[27] Several students at the University of Khartoum, including at least one Darfuri student association head, were taken into custody by security troops on 22 December after a multiethnic protest against the Merowe Dam in solidarity with the Manasir facing displacement as a result of its construction.[28] The students in Khartoum also began agitating for the government's ouster on 24 December, following the clashes and arrests on campus two days earlier.[29]
On 25 December, Justice and Equality Movement leader Khalil Ibrahim was intercepted and killed along with 30 of his fighters in North Kordofan, west of Wad Banda. Sudanese state media reported Ibrahim was defeated in fighting with the army. JEM confirmed Ibrahim's death, but said he had been killed by an airstrike, not in combat with Sudanese ground troops. Ibrahim's death came one day after JEM fighters struck three villages in the state.[30]
In June 2011, an African Union panel headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki tried to de-escalate the situation through North-South talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.[9] On 20 June, the parties agreed to demilitarize the contested area of Abyei where Ethiopian peacekeepers will be deployed.[31] The agreement details the mechanism by which the Abyei administration council to replace the one dissolved by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir in May 2011. Its chief shall be picked by the SPLM but must be approved by the Northern National Congress Party (NCP). The deputy however, would be nominated by the NCP and endorsed by SPLM. Three of the five heads of the departments of the administrative council would be nominated by the SPLM and the remaining two by the NCP. A police service would be established for the region, with the size and composition determined by a joint committee co-chaired by northern and southern officials. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon welcomed the accord but said the real test would be how both sides would implement the deal.[32]
On 21 June, a statement was attributed to the NCP’s official in charge of Abyei file, Didiri Mohamed Ahmed, as saying that there was an understanding reached at the Addis Ababa meeting between the two parties that South Sudan would concede future ownership of Abyei to the North. However, the spokesman of SPLA, Philip Aguer, told the press that the statement from the NCP senior official was incorrect.[33]
On 23 August, President Omar al-Bashir announced a two-week unilateral ceasefire in the conflict while on a surprise visit to South Kordofan state. He said the government would continue to embargo foreign aid directed toward South Kordofan, and the only humanitarian access would be through the Sudanese Red Crescent. He said that after the two-week ceasefire, "the situation will be assessed on the ground".[34]
Groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have expressed concern about the humanitarian situation.
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