The new year began very badly for South Sudan. The world’s newest nation (and one of the poorest) has suffered a fresh spate of bloody attacks between rival tribes leaving hundreds, some say thousands, of corpses in their wake.

The southern government blamed much of the internal unrest on its old rival in northern Sudan. The National Congress Party in northern Sudan has countermanded that the southern government is arming and assisting rebel groups fighting in the north.

Those most affected by tribal conflicts are women and children.

But the root of the problem of internal unrest in South Sudan is, of course, spiritual. Regardless of whether northern Sudan is funding and arming rebel militias in the south, violence still requires a willing participant.

Christianity in South Sudan is still in its infancy. With hundreds of tribes and sub-tribal groups, the mistrust and old rivalries reach back centuries. Blood feuds between tribes make the Hatfields and McCoys look like a boring presidential debate.

To the western eye, these feuds can be misunderstood and over-simplified. For instance, one major source of angst against tribes is cows. Yes, you read correctly, cows.

Much of the tribal conflicts in Sudan are fought over cows.

Cattle-raiding is a rite-of-passage for many tribes. If a young man does not steal cattle from rival tribes, he is seen as a baby. He will be ostracized by his tribe and may never be able to marry because the single women will want nothing to do with him.

Cattle-raiding is an inseparable part of the culture. But as long as this pagan tenet remains a part of life, jihadists like Sudan president Omar al Bashir will gladly take advantage of it to destabilize his rival to the south.

Young men with guns are commonplace.

So, what is the answer? The answer is in replacing the old, pagan traditions and customs with the Gospel. Pagan culture says cattle stealing and warring against rival tribes is the test of true manhood. The Gospel says that a real man works hard for his family in a legitimate trade, loves the wife of his youth, disciples and provides for his children, and leaves room for the widow and orphan in his community. Righteous Job said that he hoped his arms would fall from his shoulders if he did not provide for widows and orphans (Job 31).

In January PPF showcased our planned Jebel Lopit Training Center. One main purpose of constructing this institution is to provide practical instruction on how to bridge the gap between tribes. More importantly, our goal is to help supplant the old, pagan message that unending war and violence prove strength with the gospel message of strength through weakness, leadership through service, and getting through giving.

True strength is found in the Gospel.

But we can’t do this job alone. In fact, it is not our job to do it alone. We are all part of the Body. The only way PPF can demonstrate the Gospel to people who need to see it is when you demonstrate it through us to them.

Thank you for your faithful demonstration to us and to our persecuted brethren.

By Brad Phillips

Violence opened the new year in the world’s newest country, as South Sudan struggles to unify the country following independence last July. At issue are old rivalries between tribes, which predate the last war and threaten to miscarry the embryonic state.

Makeshift clinics in Pibor are crammed with patients, many of whom are amputees, from conflicts between the Murle and the Nuer tribes. The Dinka-Bor have also had numerous scraps with the Nuer, leading to the massacre of entire villages.

The small UN peacekeeping force has been unable to stop the roving bands of militia from operating with impunity in the thick, swampy bush of the states along the White Nile. Many reports claimed the UN forces stood by while hundreds of people were slaughtered, because the militia forces were much larger than the UN detachments sent to “keep the peace.”

The South Sudan government has charged the NCP government in Khartoum with financing and arming rebel militias in order to destabilize the oil-producing states. The NCP denies the charges and counter charges that the South is supporting the rebel armies in Southern Darfur, Southern Kordofan, and the Blue Nile States, which are fighting off the genocidal regime in Khartoum.

The good news is that the answer to all these regional problems is the Good News of reconciliation in Christ. Christ is the answer for tribal conflicts. He is the great Reconciler. He can bring all tribes and nations together.

This is why we are excited about PPF’s Jebel Lopit Training Center (currently being built), which seeks to bridge the divide between the tribes through the reconciliation found in Christ.

Please pray that the work of PPF and all other missionaries and Christian organizations in South Sudan will contribute towards winning a lasting peace… not a peace through the absence of war, but of peace through victory in King Jesus in the hearts and lives of sinners.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers for the persecuted. And thank you for your partnership with us in ministering to the persecuted church in Sudan.

Editions of Africa Messenger typically report on the situation in Sudan and on the various ministry activities in which PPF is engaged. But the really beautiful thing about the ministry work is not always the work itself, but how it came to pass.

PPF is 100 percent supported by the prayers and giving of individuals, churches, businesses, clubs, foundations, and other non-profits. Therefore, behind every story of a Sudanese refugee receiving a cup of cold, clean water from a PPF well, is a story of compassion and sacrifice from a Christian far away who decided to get involved.

I am reminded about this every week, as I receive notes, pictures, and other testimonies of people actively engaged in compassion for the persecuted.

Church members gather for fellowship and bracelet-making (Photo courtesy of Emily Eckerson).

Recently, I received several pictures from a lady named Marilyn. Marilyn lives in Massachusetts and has a heart for the persecuted. She decided to make the 100 Wells Campaign bracelets that PPF offers on its website(https://secure.giftwrapplus.org/ppf/EU/cart/default.aspx?) to help raise funds and awareness for the Darfur refugee community in Jaac.

In her own words, this is what Marilyn had to say:

“One of the most frustrating aspects of growing old is feeling useless – especially when you have always been really active and involved.”

“The Sunday that Ed Lyons spoke at our church, I was sitting up front in a special rocking chair reserved for me. As he talked about the Persecution Project and the bracelets he needed for the 100 Wells, my heart started pounding, and I got so excited. ‘This is something I can do!’ I raised my hand as soon as he finished and volunteered.”

“Everyone in the church said they wanted to help as well – and they have. We’ve held sessions at church, but at home I sit with my children and my grandchildren (from 8-80 years old), making the bracelets.”

Marilyn making 100 Wells bracelets with family members.

“I thank God for the opportunity to help others once again.”

Marilyn did not just start working by herself; she recruited several ladies at her church to help as well. This is just one small but significant way concerned Christians can get involved. I often tell stories like this to the Sudanese people we help, just to encourage them. When someone gives us a gift, often we don’t know the story behind it. When we hear the story, it can sometimes bless us more than the gift. That was certainly the case with Marilyn and her friends.

Read the full article at http://www.christianpost.com/news/sudan-threatens-to-arrest-church-leaders-67479/

KHARTOUM – Foreigners are not allowed to distribute aid to two war-ravaged states in Sudan, a government minister affirmed on Wednesday after talks with the UN’s humanitarian chief.

The United Nations says hundreds of thousands of people have become internally displaced or otherwise severely affected since fighting began last June in South Kordofan state, and then in Blue Nile.

Refugees fleeing to Ethiopia and South Sudan are reporting food shortages and rising levels of malnutrition, with “particularly alarming” signs coming from rebel-held areas, Valerie Amos, the UN’s top emergency aid official, told reporters.

But Khartoum, citing security concerns, continues to bar UN and foreign aid workers from the warzone.

“We welcome support from the UN but the Sudanese government decides on the delivery of aid to people. It must be done by Sudanese aid workers,” Social Welfare Minister Amira al-Fadel Mohamed told the same news briefing.

“There is still a fear that the aid workers may face some security troubles,” she said, adding that the issue of access is under discussion.

“And later we can decide when the international aid workers can return to the two states and what are the limits of their movement.”

The UN has said that without having its people in the affected areas it cannot verify what the needs are or how they are being addressed.

Mohamed said her government has delivered food and water.

“The whole focus of our discussion has been on ways in which the United Nations can support the government’s own effort to meet the needs of people in government-controlled areas, and also how we can access those people in SPLM-North held areas where the indicators are particularly alarming,” Amos said.

The government and UN agreed to discuss the sharing of information and data to help them meet the people’s needs, she added.

Fighting in the border state of South Kordofan broke out in early June, between Sudanese forces and SPLM-North soldiers, who had fought alongside rebels in southern Sudan during a civil war that ended in 2005 and led to South Sudan’s independence in July.

The conflict spread in September to Blue Nile state, another area where Khartoum moved to assert its authority in the wake of southern secession.

South Kordofan’s governor, Ahmad Harun, is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sudan’s Darfur region.

In 1997, I started Persecution Project. Through all these years I have had the honor to participate with you in a range of programs and projects to demonstrate “Active Compassion” for the persecuted in Sudan. It has been a journey filled with great joy and pain to come alongside believers who have experienced great loss and undergone intense suffering because of their faith.

Village of Lohutuk in South Sudan

We have witnessed so many challenges and changes. As I look back I am overwhelmed by the prayers answered and obstacles overcome. As I enter my 15th year of working in this field, I have never been more excited about the future as I am today.

Of course, there are still many negative things happening right now in the region. The genocidal war and aerial terror campaign against innocent civilians in the Nuba Mountains, Darfur, and the Blue Nile state is a growing calamity that you will continue to hear about from us. We will continue to provide ways in which you can partner with us to bring encouragement and some relief to the suffering.

One of the areas of ministry which I believe will make a long-term impact is in the area of mentoring, training and discipleship.

This January edition of the Africa Messenger provides a window into one of PPF’s projects which is designed to be a platform for discipleship, education, training and evangelism. The Jebel Lopit Training Center (JLTC) is a project of PPF that has being initiated in partnership with several other local and international partners including The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), the Africa Inland Church (AIC) and Diguna-AIC.

The Early Years in Lohutuk (photos from It’s a Battle by Sidney Langford)

Pioneers Sidney Langford and Ed Schuit. Sidney drove the first team to visit Lohutuk.

Early pioneers, Martha Hughell and Barbara Battye, translating the Latuka New Testament.

Missionary and Lopit warriors.

Current Vision

The purpose of the JLTC is to provide a platform to facilitate programs and projects that will mentor, train, disciple and develop the first generation of leaders in the world’s newest nation – South Sudan.

The idea for the JLTC developed as we have watched South Sudan emerge from Africa’s longest war and transition during the last six years to a free and independent country.

Nation-building requires people-building and that is the vision of the JLTC. In order for a people to really be free they must be able to govern themselves.

Self-government begins with individuals, families and churches and reaches to businesses, communities and civil government. Biblical concepts such as “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not covet” are the bedrock of a free society and the foundation for private property and free enterprise. Students who come to the JLTC from all parts of Sudan and Africa will receive foundational teachings that they will take home and use to transform their families and communities.

Pastor training.

The JLTC is currently being developed in the community of Lohutuk in Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan—an ideal location for the JLTC located in the beautiful Lopit mountains.

PPF wants to facilitate the growth and development of leaders to provide a firm foundation for a growing country.

Mission House

To achieve our vision for this facility, PPF has partnered with the African Inland Church (AIC) and the German Christian organization DIGUNA. DIGUNA’s history in Lohutuk goes back to the late 1970s, but it continues the rich tradition started by African Inland Mission (AIM) which dates back to the 1950s. DIGUNA occupies AIM’s old mission station and carries on with ministry outreaches they started before and between the two wars. Together with AIC Sudan, DIGUNA helps run the schools, church and clinic there.

Lohutuk Hospital 2010

AIC Lohutuk primary school

AIC Lohutuk

There are presently several DIGUNA missionaries living in Lohutuk, including long-time PPF friend and partner, Stephan Matusik, along with his wife, Iris, and their five children.

Stephan has been a leader in the com-munity for nearly seven years and has built up the DIGUNA mission station to become an important beacon for the gospel in the area.

PPF has supported the community in Lohutuk in various ways for more than a decade including crisis relief, supporting development of a Bible School, primary and secondary schools, a hospital, agricultural projects and other projects.

The land for the JLTC has been donated by the AIC and sits adjacent to the DIGUNA mission station. Utilizing containers, fencing materials and a Hydraform brick machine provided by PPF donors, construction of the JLTC compound and campus is underway!

The JLTC will provide a venue for churches, universities, and other ministries to have a platform for teaching and training. The JLTC will include accommodations for students, volunteers, short or long-term missionaries, teachers, classrooms with VSAT capability for distance learning, a mess hall, a library, storage and access to a range of ministry projects.

Food production is a basic need in South Sudan. Independence means self-reliance. One of the best methods of education is apprenticeship. Toward that end, PPF has initiated a number of “demonstration projects” that are designed to provide mentoring and to teach self-reliance, while addressing real needs such as food production. Growing vegetables and raising chickens are two “demonstration projects” initiated in 2011 in partnership with Diguna and The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM).

Growing vegetables, raising chickens and eggs locally is providing food for the community.

The Hydraform machine which produces “interlocking” bricks is another vehicle for mentoring and training. Housing and food production are two vitally important needs in a poor country with little infrastructure and one which currently relies upon imports for most of its food.

Hydraform bricks drying in Lohutuk.

One of the greatest development needs in South Sudan is education. The JLTC will provide a platform for academic, spiritual and business training. Several American universities and educational institutions approached PPF in 2011 and asked to partner with PPF to provide distance learning and short- and long-term courses.

At the beginning of 2011 PPF provided a VSAT (satellite Internet system) to the Matusik family to improve communication for the community there, and we anticipate additional VSAT systems will be installed in 2012 to facilitate distance learning courses at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels.

During the war in South Sudan PPF worked hard to respond to the immediate needs of the persecuted, such as food, medicine, clean water, etc. During this new era of peace, the JLTC is our attempt to go beyond crisis relief to sustainable development. We want to bless our brothers and sisters in a more substantial way. By providing educational, spiritual, and economic training opportunities, PPF is helping build Africa’s newest nation one person at a time.

As the year 2012 unfolds, we will continue to update you on the progress of the JLTC—and to give you opportunies to get involved directly with our efforts.

God has blessed the people of South Sudan with peace, independence, and an opportunity to prosper. Thank you for your prayers for this ministry and for your role in providing life and hope to so many people.

While the world’s attention has been preoccupied on the fall of Libya’s Gaddafi, and the growing violence in Syria, and the continuing turmoil in Egypt, there has been more strategic and significant events happening in the Arab world of the Republic of Sudan.

The last few weeks have seen tremendous changes in Sudan. A full-scale war has been launched by the terrorist-led NCP government in Khartoum to eliminate all political opposition in the country. Of course, the excuse by the government is that they are trying to root out all “criminals” and “rebels” who violate the laws.

The war in Sudan is spreading...

Recall in May, the NCP launched an attack on the oil-rich area of Abyei on the border of South Sudan. Abyei was sacked and hundreds, maybe thousands were killed. More than 100,000 native Dinka residents displaced.

Then, a few days later on June 5th, the NCP launched a new war in the oil-rich Southern Kordofan State, north of Abyei. Persecution Project Foundation travelled to Southern Kordofan in July and brought out documentation of war crimes committed by the NCP.

East of the Nuba Mountains is another disputed area of Sudan, the Blue Nile State. Like its neighbors in Abyei and Southern Kordofan, the Blue Nile is primarily African, not Arab, in its ethnicity. But perhaps most significant, all these areas are home to large numbers of supporters of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) – the primary political resistance to the murderous NCP regime.

Al-Bashir has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

In late August, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir declared a two-week unilateral ceasefire in Southern Kordofan. This declaration was met with skepticism by almost every organization watching events in the region. After all, Bashir was the one who instigated the war in Southern Kordofan. Why was he now calling for a temporary cease fire?

We didn’t have to wait long to find out.

Blue Nile Governor Malek Agar

On September 1st, Bashir’s forces attacked the residence of Blue Nile Governor, Malek Agar. This initial attack was quickly followed by a full-scale invasion and aerial bombardment from SAF planes. Thousands of people have already been displaced. The UN records that more than 27,500 alone have fled to Ethiopia.

Bashir then ordered SPLM-N offices in every northern state to be raided and closed. Dozens of party officials were arrested, offices vandalized, and documents and equipment stolen. This took place only weeks after an agreement was signed in the Ethiopian Capitol of Addis Ababa, where the NCP acknowledged the legitimacy of the SPLM-N.

Why is all of this happening?

While South Sudan was preparing for independence earlier this year, some NCP officials were telling their constituents that the departure of the South would ultimately be a positive for the nation, because it would remove a large obstacle in preventing Sudan from fully enforcing sharia law and creating a pure Islamic state. But that was just the public message to the masses. The reality was that the NCP was scrambling to figure out how to make up the loss of most of the oil revenue that would belong to the new Republic of South Sudan in July.

Bashir moved quickly to secure what remained of the oil located in the North. He started in Abyei. Abyei is located in the North, but its people are mostly loyal to the South. Then, Bashir invaded Southern Kordofan. This state is home to the rest of the oil in the North. And, like Abyei, Southern Kordofan is mostly loyal to the South, having provided thousands of troops to fight for the South in the previous war. These attacks took place prior to the South’s independence on July 9th. Bashir knew that the South would not oppose him, because it was too close to its own “finish line” and would not want to do anything to potentially restart the war.

PPF's Matt Chancey with Fmr. Nuba Governor Abdelaziz Adam Al Hilu.

And now, the Blue Nile State has been invaded. All opposition offices have been closed. Any official opposing Bashir has either been arrested or declared a fugitive and outlaw. Trade with South Sudan has been halted, because the NCP accuses the Juba government of harboring and supporting “rebels” in the North.

In our opinion, these acts represent the “high-water mark” of Bashir’s NCP regime. The Republic of Sudan is teetering on the brink. The economy is in shambles. Prices are shooting up as inflation runs out of control. There are shortages everywhere. Protesters have taken to the streets. The national debt currently stands at an unsustainable $37 BILLION.

Desperate for cash, the NCP is trying to strangle as much money as possible out of its new oil-rich neighbor to the south. Seventy-five percent of the oil produced in the old Sudan now resides in the new Republic of South Sudan. But the only pipeline to get that oil to market runs through the north. So Khartoum is trying to slap a hefty “surcharge” on every barrel that is piped through its territory. Originally, Khartoum wanted $50 a barrel (the current market price of oil is around $85 a barrel). This outrageous sum was rejected of course, but the two nations have still not arrived at a solution and the clock is ticking for Omar al-Bashir. Once the north begins to default on debt payments, the economy will really take a dive.

The economic woes for the NCP are combined with unresolved (and expensive) conflicts in Darfur, and now Abyei, the Nuba Mountains, and the Blue Nile. The failure of the NCP to hold the country together is causing consternation within the minority factions of the party, weakening Bashir’s grip on power.

After 22 years of war, mass murder and economic looting of the country, the chickens are finally beginning to come home to roost for President Bashir and his cronies in the NCP. The violent outbursts in the southern border states represents the death throws of a monstrous regime whose time has finally come.

These Dinka soldiers from Southern Sudan could go back to war soon if the conflict in the north continues to spread.

Why then is the US government so silent on the subject of Sudan? Why is President Obama continuing to treat Omar al-Bashir and the victims of his endless wars on a moral equivalency basis? As we have shown above, a casual look at the current national situation easily explains what’s going on.

For now, Sudan’s marginalized people, including the country’s largest Christian community in Southern Kordofan, face a growing humanitarian crisis. Khartoum’s actions make it very clear that any opposition to its rule will result in arrest, exile, enslavement, or extermination. International aid, as well as access by reporters and other foreign observers, is still prohibited to the conflict areas.

After returning from the Nuba Mountains in July, we realized that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan has finally been completely overthrown. Our hope is that this new war will not last as long as the previous one, but President Bashir has shown himself to be a very resilient leader. Many violent dictators who cannot hold a candle to Bashir’s regime have been overthrown for much less. Our prayer is that this elusive cat is about to run out of lives.

Please pray for the safety of all Sudanese people who now find themselves facing escalating persecution at the hands of their own government. Pray that PPF can fill the role as an advocate for the victims of war and as a facilitator for bringing aid and comfort to the persecuted church in Sudan.

[Editor's note: The war of ethnic cleansing and genocide in the Nuba Mountains of Southern Kordofan State in Sudan has predictably spread to the other ethnic African-dominated Blue Nile State. Long-time Sudan expert Eric Reeves wrote an excellent commentary on this latest development, excerpts of which we have reprinted with permission for your information. Please pray for the many missionaries that have already been evacuated as a result of aerial bombardment. You can keep track of the latest news by signing up for our e-alerts.]

September 3, 2011

Those hoping that Sudan’s 2005 “Comprehensive Peace Agreement” (CPA) and the July secession by South Sudan as an independent nation would bring an end to war in this ravaged country have been bitterly disappointed by recent events.  Aside from continuing to wage a ghastly war of civilian attrition in Darfur, the Khartoum regime has militarily seized the contested border region of Abyei (May 20), has begun a widespread campaign of ethnically targeted destruction in South Kordofan (June 5)—targeting the Nuba and relentlessly bombing the Nuba Mountains—and in recent days has launched a major military offensive in Blue Nile State.

Many thousands have fled into neighboring Ethiopia, the state capital of Damazin has been over-run, and there are reports of large numbers of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure.  There are also many reports of indiscriminate bombing attacks by Khartoum’s air force elsewhere in Blue Nile—continuing a pattern of more than twenty years—and fighting seems to be escalating rapidly.  Calls for an immediate ceasefire by the UN and other international actors have fallen on deaf ears in Khartoum.

Blue Nile has many similarities with South Kordofan, which is also part of what is now North Sudan; this includes in particular a close alliance militarily and politically with the SPLM/A of the South during the long civil war (1983-2005).  Its elected governor, Malik Agar, heads the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North.  Like the comparable political and military entity in South Kordofan, the SPLA-North in Blue Nile is made up of indigenous soldiers, who cannot be “sent home to the South” because they are home. And as was true for South Kordofan, Blue Nile was promised by the CPA “popular consultations,” which were to have determined the nature of the ongoing relationship with Khartoum after a Southern self-determination referendum.  There have been no meaningful “popular consultations” in either South Kordofan or Blue Nile, nor does Khartoum intend to permit such.

As was also the case in South Kordofan (and in Abyei as well), Khartoum militarily provoked the fighting in Blue Nile and then claimed that they had been responding to attacks by rebels.  But the recent arrival of a brigade-sized force near Damazin—accompanied by a dozen tanks along with 40 trucks carrying heavy Dushka machine-guns—makes nonsense of the claim.  And again, as was the case in South Kordofan, it is clear that this military offensive had been well-planned in advance (in South Kordofan, for example, the Sudanese Red Crescent Society [SRCS] has confirmed that Khartoum gave them some 2,500 body bags and plastic tarps prior to the fighting and ethnically targeted executions that began on June 5; by the end of the month the SRCS was publicly declaring the need for more body bags).

This young girl was killed in the Kauda bombing.

The offensive in Blue Nile has long been threatened, and Malik Agar said two months ago that the longer the conflict in South Kordofan went unresolved, the more likely it was that Blue Nile would be drawn into the fighting.  And several months ago, internal UN situation reports contained ominous intelligence about large troop movements and military threats in the general region of Blue Nile.  It’s not clear whether the UN and international actors of consequence simply didn’t believe that Khartoum would move against Blue Nile—or disingenuously chose not to believe so.  But the failure of anticipation is staggering, and suggests diplomatic incompetence of the first order.  Certainly much was revealed with the breakdown of the important framework agreement signed by Malik and the powerful Nafi’e Ali Nafi’e of the NIF/NCP on June 28, and then was promptly disowned by President al-Bashir on his return from China (July 1, 2011).  More than disowning the agreement, al-Bashir declared at Friday prayers:

“‘[Al-Bashir] directed the armed forces to continue their military operations in South Kordofan until a cleansing of the region is over,’ SUNA quoted Bashir as telling worshippers during Friday prayers.” (emphasis added)

This should have been a clear signal of what would follow.  But whatever the reason for lack of an effective international response—then and now—it yet again shows that there has been far too little preparation for, or anticipation of the events of the past few days, a terribly familiar pattern on the part of the UN, the U.S., the African Union, and the Europeans in dealing with Khartoum.  All this is consistent with the exceedingly slow and still hesitant acknowledgement of the massive atrocity crimes that were committed in South Kordofan in June, which have been amply documented in a leaked UN human rights report on the situation.  Moreover, satellite imagery has authoritatively confirmed the existence of many mass gravesites, capable of holding many thousands of bodies.  The photographic evidence is confirmed in every case by eyewitness accounts provided to the UN human rights investigators (and included in their unredacted report) and to the Satellite Sentinel Project, with human intelligence assets in Kadugli.  Many Nuba escaping from South Kordofan into South Sudan have also reported mass gravesites…

This Nuba church building was bombed by the Sudan Air Force.

What Khartoum fears most is that with the secession of South Sudan, the forces rebelling against marginalization and discrimination—as well as against the relentless denial of political freedom and a fair share of national wealth and  power—are now all in the North.  If these variously rebellious forces are allowed to create a powerful military coalition—reaching from eastern Chad to Ethiopia and northward to the Beja region near the border with Eritrea—they could topple the regime, even without much help from the traditional Northern political opposition, which is in any event badly weakened after twenty-two years of NIF/NCP tyranny.

Several observers of the recent large-scale military actions in Blue Nile have made this point, if in somewhat different fashion. Chris Phillips from the Economist Intelligence Unity put it this way to Reuters: “(Khartoum’s) objective is to knock out the SPLM-North before they become a serious military force.”  Fouad Hikmat of the International Crisis Group argues that Khartoum believes the SPLM in the North is “a threat for them politically, not just militarily” and that what we are seeing “could be a vanguard to mobilise the new South of the North of Sudan.”  In other words, what South Sudan was to Khartoum during the civil war could take new form in the North—what Hikmat calls “the new South of the North of Sudan.”

But by attacking Blue Nile, and targeting the house of its elected governor Malik Agar, the Khartoum regime has burned its bridges to a negotiated settlement with the SPLM/A-North.  It was Malik who brokered the agreement between the SPLM/A-North leader in South Kordofan, Abdel Aziz el-Hilu, and senior regime official Nafi’e Ali Nafi’e; it is now exceedingly difficult to see how negotiations might even resume while the governor himself is being attacked and pursued…

IDPs from Southern Kordofan are hiding in the rocks of the Nuba Mountains.

War as it is unfolding in South Kordofan and Blue Nile is in no one’s interest—not in the South and not in the North.  The only ones who see themselves as beneficiaries are the most ruthless and brutal members of the NIF/NCP cabal and the military and security apparatus: for they well understand that if they lose power, most will end up in The Hague facing prosecution for crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes…

This is the face of power in Khartoum, and until the world awakes to the consequences of this “vengeful, bitter” outlook, war will continue moving closer and closer to engulfing all of Sudan.

Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College and author of “A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide.” See www.sudanreeves.org.

On September 25th, I spoke to a missionary friend at church who was recently evacuated from the war-torn Blue Nile State in Sudan. He confirmed to me the reports I had heard that weekend about the NCP government bombing the state capitol of Kurmuk. One of the targets in the attack was the office of the NGO Save the Children. This perfectly illustrates the contrast between the victims in this war who focus on saving children and those perpetrators who “bomb the children.”

It's time to stand together!

“Today we know what is right, and today we know what is wrong. The slaughter of innocents is wrong. Two million people driven from their homes is wrong. Women gang raped while gathering firewood is wrong. And silence, acquiescence and paralysis in the face of genocide is wrong.” – Senator Barack Obama, speaking at a Save Darfur rally in July, 2006.

During last month’s Emergency Congressional Hearing on the ongoing genocide in the Nuba Mountains, all of the attending members of Congress expressed outrage at the inability of the Obama administration to make a distinction between the perpetrators and the victims of genocide in Sudan.

Earlier this week, I read with dismay the declaration by U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, Ambassador Princeton Lyman, that the U.S. Government will not support a “no-fly zone” in Sudan to protect innocent civilians who are being bombed by their own government simply because they are indigenous black Africans.

This is a moral outrage! And, it is a 180-degree turn opposite of the pledge that President Obama made during his presidential campaign.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians remain at risk in Sudan due to Khartoum’s brutal aerial bombing campaign launched in June in the Nuba Mountain region and recently in the Blue Nile.

These words by Ambassador Lyman are more than a diplomatic blunder. In one fell swoop, the Obama Administration has given a “green light” to the most murderous regime in the world to keep butchering its own people, including the largest Christian community in the new Republic of Sudan.

We will continue to monitor events on the ground and do our part to bring relief to the persecuted in this troubled nation.

Please write directly to President Obama and let him know how you feel about his decision to endanger innocent civilians by opposing a “no-fly zone” that would stop genocide and open the way for humanitarian assistance. www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Thanks for your prayers and continued support for PPF.

Below is the letter I sent to Yasir Arman, who helps lead the SPLM-N efforts to stop Khartoum’s genocidal onslaught in Nuba and Blue Nile.

Attn: SPLM-N Secretary General

The Honorable Yasir Arman

Dear Yasir:

I was greatly disappointed to read today in the Sudan Tribune that President Obama’s Special Envoy to Sudan, Ambassador Princeton Lyman has publicly declared his opposition to the concept of a No-Fly Zone for Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan.

This statement is in direct contradiction to President Obama’s campaign pledge to support a No-Fly Zone in Sudan.

I am ashamed that a representative of my government would publicly make such a statement, which can only embolden Khartoum’s genocidal tendencies by giving them a “green light” to continue the aerial bombing and butchering of innocent civilians in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions.

Shame.

Further shame that he would openly oppose those who recognize that the continued problems in Sudan emanate from a regime in Khartoum that is (to quote the late Dr. John Garang) “too deformed to be reformed.”

I encourage the leadership of SPLM-N to request the immediate recall of Ambassador Princeton Lyman and ask that his replacement be someone who has invested more time understanding Sudan, its people, its cultures and the root causes of the current crisis in Sudan.

All of the diverse people groups in Sudan, whether in Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan, Kassala, or Blue Nile deserve the right to self-determination and basic human dignity. I guess Amb. Lyman has forgotten that the United States of America emerged from a “popular uprising” against a much less egregious form of tyranny… taxation without representation.

No American should discourage a nation of people who have been so marginalized, enslaved, butchered, mistreated, and denied every basic human right from standing up and using every possible means to replace an illegitimate and repressive genocidal regime with a legitimate representative form of government that will respect the God-given rights of its own people.

Please extend my greetings to my friends there and all those who are struggling for freedom. And let them know that Ambassador Lyman does not speak for all branches of the U.S. Government, nor does he speak for the majority of the American people.

Sincerely,

Bradford Phillips