(Extract)
This update is intended as the first in a series of monthly updates to be produced by the Sudan Consortium in cooperation with local human rights monitors on the ground to highlight ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the region.
In the six week period from 1 June to 15 July, the Sudanese Air Force and Sudanese Armed Forces bombed and shelled civilian areas in Southern Kordofan. During the reporting period, the Sudanese Air Force systematically bombed civilian settlements in opposition-held areas of Heiban, Al Buram, Kadugli and Um Dorein Counties in Southern Kordofan. The Sudanese Armed Forces also shelled populated areas in Al Buram and Um Dorein Local human rights monitors working in Southern Kordofan documented more than 50 such attacks during the reporting period, with the majority of attacks being bombing raids carried out by Antonov bomber aircraft. These aircraft drop large, crudely constructed, and unguided bombs from high altitude – relying on methods and means of delivery which are inherently indiscriminate.
As a result of these attacks, ten civilians (including seven children and one woman) were killed, and 25 were injured during the reporting period. According to the monitors who documented these attacks, all the locations where these casualties occurred were clearly identifiable as being civilian in character, were not being used for military purposes and did not represent legitimate military targets.
The reporting period saw a significant increase in bombing attacks launched by the Sudanese Air Force against cultivated agricultural areas in Southern Kordofan. Delami County, known as fertile and productive agricultural area, was subjected to a particularly intensive and systematic attack during June and early July. Monitors on the ground recorded a total of 178 bombs dropped in the course of 32 separate air raids on Delami during this period. The attacks, the majority of which targeted areas of cultivated land, damaged or destroyed newly planted crops in 12 locations, and appear to have been timed to coincide with the planting and early growing season (The planting season in Delami began in June).