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| Africa: Horn |
| Marauding militias threaten new-found Sudan peace |
| 2005-04-09 |
| Militia groups in southern Sudan are threatening to wreck a fragile peace that has emerged nearly three months after Khartoum and the region's main rebel force inked a deal to end 21 years of war, residents and aid workers said Friday. About 30 such groups, unaffected by the January 9 peace deal signed by Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), continue to terrorize Upper Nile state, attacking villages here, collecting illegal taxes and abducting locals, they said. "Peace has been signed, but the presence of militiamen disturbs us," said John Kuol Nhial, who was tortured by the fighters in 2001 as they battled the SPLA for control of this town on the River Zerati, a main tributary of the White Nile. "They are a threat," he told reporters in Old Fangak, opening his mouth to reveal missing teeth he said were removed by the militia during the struggle in which two of his three children were killed and the other fled. "These are very dangerous people, they can eliminate you," said Father Antonio Labraca, an Italian missionary who has lived in Sudan for 20 years working on educational and development projects. Under the Khartoum-SPLM/A peace accord, the two sides have a year from the signing day to integrate southern Sudan's militia into their respective armies and organizations but there are fears the move will fuel inter-clan conflicts in the South. Already, there has been resistance. In February, gunmen loyal to militia commander Gabriel Tanginya briefly evicted the SPLM/A from Akobo town, a dusty outpost near the Ethiopian border, but were then routed leaving behind scores of dead and wounded and horrific destruction. And residents say militia checkpoints where transportation taxes are demanded dot the 120-kilometer stretch of cratered road between Old Fangak and the government garrison town of Malakal. As there are few vehicles, the roadblocks make the already difficult trip - a three-day walk usually with livestock to pay for goods, medical services and bribes - even more treacherous. The checkpoints also compound problems stemming from far worse militia activity: the abductions and conscription into their ranks of villagers who are forced to serve as fighters, porters and human shields. |
| Posted by:Fred |