SPLM/A says government bombing forces IDPs into the bush

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) claimed on Tuesday that the Khartoum government had intensified bombing raids on civilians in Eastern Equatoria, southern Sudan. The rebel group said in a press release that, since 22 July, Antonov bombers had attacked four towns in the area, and that internally displaced persons had been forced to flee into the bush without food or shelter.

SPLM/A spokesman Samson Kwaje said in a press statement that a bombing raid on Magwe Centre on Monday killed four people and seriously injured three others. On the same day, he said, eight bombs were dropped on Keyala in Torit County. Government aircraft also carried out a bombing raid on 22 July on an IDP centre at Ngaluma, and another on Tuesday at Parajok in Magwe County, the statement said. “The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLM/A) strongly condemns the NIF [National Islamic Front, former name of the ruling National Congress] regime for this indiscriminate bombing that has inflicted grave and unjustifiable damage on the civil population,” Kwaje said.

Humanitarian sources told IRIN on Wednesday that Antonov aircraft had dropped six bombs on Ngaluma, killing one person and injuring three others, and that a further six bombs were dropped on Magwe, where three people died. Bombing raids had taken place in Eastern Equatoria with varying frequency and severity throughout this year, they added.