Khartoum continues to bomb the south

Four Kenyan construction workers were among those injured this week when a Sudanese government aircraft bombed the Catholic bishop's compound in Ikotos town, Eastern Equatoria, southern Sudan, the Sudan Catholic Bishops Regional Conference (SCBRC) said on Thursday.

In a statement it released from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, SCBC said the attack occurred on Tuesday night, when an Antonov aircraft bombed the residence of Bishop Johnson Akio Mutek, the auxiliary bishop of Torit Diocese.

The statement, signed by John Tanza Mabusu, the SCBRC's communications coordinator, said the aircraft had dropped four bombs directly into the compound, damaging the priests' quarters, offices and a newly constructed youth centre. "Everything has been destroyed," Mutek said in the statement. "The bombs destroyed my residence to the ground, damaging 10 solar panels, radio communications equipment, one truck and other important diocesan properties."

SCRBC said the same aircraft had also dropped 12 bombs on Isoke, a mission 48 km east of Ikotos, diocese of Torit primary and secondary schools in Isoke with the capacity of over 500 children, but said it could not confirm the details.

This was second time this week that Sudanese government aircraft had allegedly bombed civilian targets in the south, despite ongoing peace talks between the warring parties in Nairobi under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.

On Monday, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) claimed that a government aircraft had bombed a village in northern Bahr al-Ghazal. In a statement, SPLM/A said a high-altitude Antonov bomber had dropped six bombs on Malwal Kon village, which had fallen 20 metres away from the compound of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a US-based aid organisation working in the area, killing at least four civilians and injuring five more.

According to the SPLM/A statement, Malwal Kon has no military significance since SPLM/A had no base in its vicinity, but it is home to several UN organisations and humanitarian NGOs. "The attack was therefore aimed at non-military targets - mostly the civil population, a church and compounds of humanitarian organisations," the statement noted.

It said the SPLM/A "strongly condemns the NIF [National Islamic Front] regime for this indiscriminate bombing that is intended to inflict grave and unjustifiable damage on the civil population. We also deplore the regime's targeting of NGOs and other civil institutions with the sole purpose of interrupting the flow of humanitarian assistance and relief distribution."