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Amnesty International: Sudanese government committed war crimes in South Kordofan

Human rights NGO Amnesty International says the Sudanese military indiscriminately targeted civilian areas in a southern region of the country.

By Fred Lambert
Amnesty International released a report on Tuesday, August 4, 2015, accusing the Sudanese armed forces of indiscriminate bombing attacks against the civilian population of South Kordofan. Image by Google Maps
Amnesty International released a report on Tuesday, August 4, 2015, accusing the Sudanese armed forces of indiscriminate bombing attacks against the civilian population of South Kordofan. Image by Google Maps

KADUQLI, Sudan, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Amnesty International has released a report accusing the Sudanese military of indiscriminately targeting civilians in South Kordofan.

The report, based on field research compiled by workers with the human rights NGO, suggests the Sudanese Air Force dropped more than 374 bombs on 60 locations across South Kordofan between January and April 2015, killing 35 civilians and injuring 70.

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Located in the southern portion of Sudan, South Kordofan has been a battleground between the Sudanese military and rebels with the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North, or SPLA-N, since 2011.

The conflict is rooted in dissatisfaction among non-Arab groups against Sudan's Arab-dominated government.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Sudan's air force has bombed 26 health facilities in SPLA-N areas, some clearly marked with crosses or flags, according to the report.

Several farmers are said to have abandoned their fields for fear of airstrikes, and locals told Amnesty's researchers that children had been killed playing with unexploded cluster bombs in Dalami and Umm Dorain counties.

Additionally, the report indicates the Sudanese government has blocked humanitarian relief from reaching areas under SPLA-N control, and children in South Kordofan have been excluded from a measles immunization program run by the United Nations. A measles outbreak between May 2014 and January 2015 killed 30 children in a single hospital, Amnesty reports.

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"Targeting civilian infrastructure and civilian areas which have no legitimate military objective, using prohibited weapons and other weapons in an indiscriminate way are war crimes," Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International's ‎deputy regional director, was quoted in the report as saying. "It is time for the international community to stop averting its gaze from South Kordofan and take urgent action to end this conflict."

Sudan has yet to respond to the report.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in June defied a South African court order to remain in the country and face arrest over allegations of human rights abuses in western Sudan's Darfur province.

The most recent accusations against the Sudanese government come after a June report by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, which suggested widespread human rights abuses by the Sudan People's Liberation Army, including raping and burning of young women.

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