Report from Blue Nile - 31. May 2012

Since breakfast we have been listening to the thundering in the distance. The commander of the 10thSPLA division, Ahmed Omda, explained that government forces are rocketing SPLA positions near the town ofMada. Last week his fighters took over Mada, and now the government fighters are trying to retake this strategically important position in the Ingassana hills.

The Ingassana hills are situated in the central part of Blue Nile near El Damazin, whose hydroelectric power station provides the capital of Khartoum with electricity. The governor of the province, elected last year, supreme commander of the alliance of all Sudanese rebels who stayed in Sudan, from the Nuba mountains to Darfur, Malik Agar, and general Omda – both come from the Ingassan tribe.

Lines of refugees are rushing by us and our empty bowl of millet porridge. Each and every one of them repeatsinto the camera that they trusted the UNO agencies to the very end that they will negotiate humanitarian corridors with the Sudanese government in Khartoum, allowing them to receive food and medication from the global community. And also achieve closure of the air space. They were waiting since September 1.st, when the war began. They were waiting and telling themselves that they will not have to leave their homes for more than six months. Now they have no hope anymore. Such large waves of refugees are only now gushing from Blue Nile province because it’s the time just before the first rain, which will soften the black soil that is so characteristic of Blue Nile.

“It never occurred to us that the UN and even non-governmental organizations would let us down. But if we don’t get out now, then in a week or two, when the black soil is soaked through, making it even harder to walk, we will probably never be able to get out. It is too late now for delivering aid by trucks from any direction. In such conditions,all machinery sinks into mud.”

They say that several hundred thousand natives remained only because roads are blocked by government forces and their militia of recruited janissaries. And that they are hiding around mountain peaks, in caves and forests. If government bombers will not killthem, hunger and diseases will.

The only thing left to the solidary world public, if it wants to help innocent victims,areair drops of food and medicines.

I can tell you that video footage by volunteer Eyes and Ears made the UN base in Nairobitoday call the SPLA humanitarian coordinator in Blue Nile, Hashim Orto, for talks.

“Maybe we will get the mastodon to move after all!” says general Ahmed Omda.

The fact remains that decisions in the UNare made by members of the Security Council, which have more shared interests with the Sudanese military dictatorship than with innocent victims in the native tribes, who are fighting to survive in regions rich with natural resources.

The video footage, of course, has no effect on them.

Until now, there has also been no reply to the footage and reports sent to the Office of the current President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Danilo Türk.

Tomo Križnar, Blue Nile, 31 May 2012, 10.08