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Subj:
Bombing reports
Date: 11/8/00 5:30:06 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: SudanInfonet
FROM U.S. COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES
November 7, 2000
Contact: Jeff Drumtra
202-347-3507
www.refugees.org
SUDAN GOVERNMENT BOMBS CIVILIAN TARGETS 113 TIMES THIS YEAR, ACCORDING
TO NEW RESEARCH BY AID WORKERS
Aerial bombings of civilian and humanitarian targets in Sudan are
occurring
far more frequently than previously realized, according to new data
compiled
by humanitarian aid workers in Sudan.
Sudanese government military planes have bombed civilian and
humanitarian
targets in Sudan at least 113 times this year--including twice in the
past
four days--according to a review of bombing incidents by international
humanitarian relief workers and local church organizations in southern
Sudan. The bombing data has been analyzed by the U.S. Committee for
Refugees (USCR).
The aerial bombings have intensified this year. At least 65 bombardments
were reported during 1999; at least 40 bombings occurred during 1998.
Sudanese government planes have bombed civilian targets at least 240
times
during the past four years.
The Sudanese government's deliberate aerial bombings kill innocent
civilians, disrupt international relief efforts, and push families from
their land. The aerial attacks are serious violations of international
humanitarian norms, yet international leaders routinely ignore the
bombings
and their terrifying effect on the local Sudanese population.
U.S. President Bill Clinton issued a rare statement about the bombings
last
month, noting that they are "egregious abuses" and that he is
"deeply
concerned." Clinton stated that "the government of Sudan has
bombed
civilian and humanitarian locations more than 60 times during the past
year."
In fact, the new research by agencies in the field and compiled by USCR
indicates that nearly twice that many bombings have occurred this year.
Even the new bombing compilation--113 aerial attacks in the first 10
months
of this year--remains incomplete and undoubtedly fails to include
significant numbers of bombardments that were never reported in remote
populated areas of southern Sudan.
The new bombing information for 2000 is based on research by three
sources:
the UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan, a consortium of more than 30
international aid organizations; international relief groups that
operate in
areas inaccessible to OLS; and research by John Ashworth, an analyst of
aid
programs operated by local church groups in southern Sudan.
"In cases where a town is bombed for the first time...the people
sometimes
do not react quickly enough and casualties can be high.... People are
traumatized and often live in a state of fear," the new report by
Mr.
Ashworth states. "Many in the government of Sudan believe...that
all
southerners are the enemy.... Thus all are [seen as] legitimate targets.
A
similar argument is used to justify the bombing of clearly-marked
hospitals.
The government of Sudan says that these hospitals treat wounded
soldiers.
Neither of these arguments has any basis in international human rights
law."
The Ashworth report notes that information about the extent of the
bombings
was previously scarce because "only in the year 2000 has the
bombing of
civilians become a major advocacy issue." The study states that
"reports...of attacks on civilian targets were never collated and
were still
viewed as occasional random aberrations" until humanitarian relief
groups
began pressing for a stronger international response against the
bombings.
The Ashworth report complains that attention tends to focus on bombing
damage suffered by international aid programs more than on the suffering
of
local Sudanese bombing victims. "In the month of July, over 250
bombs were
dropped in at least 33 incidents," the report says. "Only a
handful of
these targeted [relief agencies]. The rest were aimed at Sudanese
civilians. It would be nice to see the international community speak out
as
strongly on behalf of them as it does on behalf of a few aid
workers."
The Ashworth report states that the Sudanese government has used aerial
bombing as a tool of "ethnic cleansing" and to disrupt normal
life in the
south. "The psychological and economic effects, as well as the
deaths,
injuries, and physical damage, are intended to reduce morale, weaken
society, and make development more difficult for southerners..."
the report
says.
The Ashworth report states that many local church groups have called on
the
international community to counter the Sudanese government's aerial
bombings
by imposing a military "no-fly zone" in southern Sudan. The
report
concludes that enforcing a no-fly zone is tactically doable and
"should be
pursued."
An estimated 2 million people have died of causes linked to Sudan's
civil
war during the past 17 years. Some 4.4 million Sudanese have been forced
from their homes-the largest uprooted population in the world.
End
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Distributed by Sudan Infonet: An information and education service of
the Sudan Working Group -- USA
SudanInfonet@cs.com
Web Site: https://sudaninfonet.tripod.com/
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