US urged to "influence south"

Factional fighting in southern Sudan could lead to famine unless the US intervenes diplomatically with rebel forces and other parties, the US-based Human Rights Watch said. In a letter sent to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Human Rights Watch called on the new Bush administration to use its influence with southern factions to stave off potential crisis. Human Rights Watch recommended that the US insist that all military support to southern factions be stopped and a cease-fire be imposed. It also called for US convened peace talks in the south.

"This is a good example of where early and skilful US diplomatic intervention can make all the difference," Jemera Rone, Sudan researcher for Human Rights Watch, said. In a statement released on 3 March, Rone said various factions of the Nuer tribe were fighting a "no-holds-barred war" among themselves, which threatened to re-ignite conflict between the two largest tribes in the south, the Nuer and the Dinka. "The US has tremendous clout with southerners. Now is the time to use it," Rone said.

In a report on Sudan released 12 March, Human Rights Watch said the inter-Nuer and inter-Dinka conflict was "in violation of both traditional Nuer and Dinka practices of war and international humanitarian law." Abuses included the burning of homes, villages, community structures and reserves of grain, as well as the killing of women and children. Other parties involved in the inter-south conflict include the government army, and government-backed Nuer militia - particularly the militia of Gordon Kong Chuol and Simon Gatwich; Riek Machar's Sudan People's Democratic Front/Defence Forces (SPDF); and, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

[For full text see www.hrw.org/hrw/campaigns/sudan98/sudan-analysis.htm]