More than 200 people have been reported killed in the renewed fighting between Darfurian rebel groups (JEM, JLM and SLA-MM) and government forces (SAF) and factions loyal to the government that started in December. In the fighting, Antonov aircrafts, MiGs and helicopters were used in bombing, in support of vehicle-mounted troops and horse and camel riders. Both sides are reported to target civilians.

The aerial bombardments, killings and rapes have caused a reported 140.000 people to flee for safety since mid-December. The fighting in December already caused 40.000 people to flee from their homes. Since January, an additional 83.000 newly arrived IDPs have been reported at Zam Zam camp, and another 15.000 in camps near Nyala, Tawila and Khor Abeche. Shortage in food, water and fuel increase humanitarian suffering in the camps, wher there is a sharp increase in deaths among children and infants since April.

The renewed fighting began after the Sudanese government severed ties with the Sudan Liberation Army rebel faction loyal to Minni Minawi (SLA-MM). The bombardments and fighting is mainly located in the aeria of east Jebel Marra.

"Dramatic" humanitarian situation

Several activists warned of a potential famine threat in the Nuba Mountains (South Kordofan). They revealed to Radio Dabanga that the authorities closed all the roads leading to SPLM-controlled areas, preventing both humanitarian and commercial convoys to access the zone. Mohamed Ali Tako, manager of the Talinq volunteer organisation, told Radio Dabanga that "women and children are climbing the mountains in an attempt to escape from the Air Force,” and furthermore explained that in Alhamra and Abu-Sugeifa, the stationed militias are committing massive human rights violations, including ethnically-targeted assassinations.

Bashir announced later his intention to exclude foreign humanitarian organisations from South Kordofan.

A victim of the Nuba Mountains aerial raids

Suspicions of ethnic killings and crimes against humanity

This allegation seems to be confirmed by the discovery of mass graves in the neighborhood of Kadugli by US-satellites in July 2011. According to witnesses,  bodies were removed from the market in Kadugli and from villages in the region, and dumped in these pits, not one kilometer from Tello village school. They furthermore said that Sudanese army troops and allied militias carried out “ethnic cleansing” in South Kordofan, allegedly targeting people of the Nuba tribes.

The United Nations released in August 2011 in an official report voicing its suspicions that the Sudanese government might have gone as far as committing crimes against humanity in South Kordofan. Reported violations included “extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and illegal detention, enforced disappearances, attacks against civilians, looting of civilian homes and destruction of property,” as well as massive displacement. The Sudanese government rejected the document as baseless and malicious.

For its part, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for the defense of human rights in South Kordofan, and pointed out the urgent need for an international presence on the ground in order to witness and stop the atrocities taking place in the region. "Tens of thousands of civilians in South Kordofan are in grave danger, and no one is on the ground to report on what is happening, much less do anything about it," HRW-Africa director Daniel Bekele said in a statement.

SPLM (North) chairman says ceasefire is just part of a scheme to launch massive attack on the region