80,000 reported “at risk” in Nubah Mountains

Escalating attacks by government forces and drought-induced crop failure have put the lives of over 80,000 people in the Nubah Mountains at risk, according to a report released this week by the Nubah Relief Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (NRRDO). A minimum of 2,500 mt of food aid plus additional medical and non-food items would save the lives of over 84,500 civilians if supplied immediately, according to the organisation. Many families had no food in their stores and, as they entered the hunger gap, were finding less and less to help them, according to NRRDO’s report. Acute malnutrition, especially among children, was “inevitable” in the region, it added.

According to the NRRDO, government forces attacked the main airstrip near Kauda [Kawdah; 11.06 N 30.31 E] in May, and have threatened to shoot down aircraft flying into areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). On several occasions, it said, forces loyal to Khartoum had bombed relief planes on the ground, and it was now impossible to address even the most life-threatening needs. The delivery of humanitarian aid to SPLM/A-controlled areas in the Nubah Mountains was currently “impossible” because of increased fighting, the report said. “Flying into Nubah has become so dangerous as to become untenable,” it added.

The NRRDO said that an estimated 400,000 people remaining in SPLM/A-controlled territory in the Nubah Mountains had been effectively cut off from the rest of Sudan. Over the last year, it said, Sudanese government forces had increased their military targeting of these people and abducted many, taking them to “peace camps” in government-controlled territory.
Houses, farms, food stores and livestock had been “systematically destroyed”, and over 50,000 people had been displaced, many for the second or third time, according to the organisation. Poor rains across the region had exacerbated the situation, and 33,000 people had been unable to harvest any crops this year, it added.