Conflict in the Nuba mountains
The announcement of incumbent, Ahmed Haroun, as the governor for Sudan's state of South Kordofan sparked protest from the Nuba ethnic group, the traditional inhabitants of the province. Amidst claims of poll-rigging in the massively delayed elections, they believe that Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SLPM) nominee Abdel-Aziz Al-Hilu should had won. After Sudanese Armed Forces took the state capital, Kadugli, reports of those fleeing the region were of mass killings, amounting to ethnic cleansing.
The region was closed to foreign journalists, yet reports of aerial bombardment of the Nuba mountains region were reinforced by aid agencies and the United Nations. In late June 2011, I crossed into the region, and discovered tales of a terrified people.
In the hills surrounding the village of Kauda, in the heart of the Nuba mountains, children spend their days hiding amidst the rocks. Their families fear the aerial bombardments and so put them here whilst they try to work the fields.
South Kordofan, Sudan ยท June - July 2011
