Eastern Equatoria bombed

Ikotos town in eastern Equatoria, southern Sudan, was bombed on Monday, according to the NGO Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). Spokesman Kristen Flogstad told IRIN he confirmed by radio that one bomb was dropped in Ikotos, where the organisation has a relief base. Six bombs were also dropped on Monday on Palotaka, about 15 km from Parajok, eastern Equatoria, the spokesman added. Flogstad said it was the first time Ikotos, southeast of the regional capital Torit, had been bombed since last September. “It’s a way of spreading terror”, he said. During a bombing campaign last year, civilians fled to the nearby mountains and aid workers built bomb shelters, he told IRIN.

Flogstad also said Ikotos “is not included in the promises given by the government of Sudan” relating to Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), as access by OLS had been banned. Ikotos is accessible only by road because it is a rebel-controlled area falling in a restricted no-flight zone, imposed by the government in November 1998.
However, recent access by road has been “very problematic”, Flogstad said. In January, eight people were killed in a road attack by the Ugandan rebel movement, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), including two NCA staff members and six staff from other local churches. On 27 March, an NCA driver was killed in another road ambush.