More than 200 people were killed in armed clashes in Sudan

More than 200 people, including several children, were killed in armed clashes between the army and rebels in southern Sudan, the region last month approved a referendum on independence for the passage of a new country: South Sudan.  The clashes occurred between Thursday and Friday of last week in the Jonglei province between the military and men loyal to George Athor, a former Army officer who rebelled after losing in last year’s elections.

“211 people died and 109 were injured. Most were civilians, women, children and priests, denounced Tuesday the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs in southern Sudan, James Kok, following a visit to Jonglei.

Since late January, when they met the first results of the referendum in favor of the separation of northern and southern Sudan, the armed forces have clashed with rebels, but escalated last week following confirmation of independence.

Some 3.9 million Sudanese were invited to participate in the referendum to define the separation between the Arab Muslim north and Christian and animist south, as part of the 2005 Peace Agreement that ended 20 years of civil war.  The figure of 211 deaths confirmed on Tuesday doubled the estimates of a hundred given by the authorities in southern Sudan last week after the clashes, according to a report from the BBC.

Humanitarian Affairs Minister of the Government of Southern Sudan said that the balance of the fighting is not including the victims of the militias, so that the total death toll is higher.  Members of the armed forces said that it was practically a “slaughter” against civilians, mainly from remote areas of Jonglei, where they lay the bodies of many civilians. The clashes highlight the deep political and ethnic divisions that persist in southern Sudan, made the new government will face future African state. With the confirmation of independence, Sudan enter into a transition period of six months in the northern and southern borders negotiated, the status of the disputed oil region of Abyei, the distribution of national debt and oil revenues.

http://www.coffetoday.com/more-than-200-people-were-killed-in-armed-clashes-in-sudan/9012086/