FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 13, 2000
Contact: Jeff Drumtra
(202) 347-3507
Government of Sudan Renews Aerial Bombings After Losing Bid for UN Security Council Seat
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A Sudanese government plane dropped bombs yesterday on the towns of Ikotos and Parajok, both located in the country's Eastern Equatoria Province. Nine bombs fell on Ikotos during a food distribution by an international aid agency, injuring seven people, including at least four seriously. Aid workers reported that pregnant women were among those seriously injured. The aid agency affected has evacuated its staff members from Ikotos. The bombing of Parajok occurred late last night; no reports of casualties have been received yet.
Four bombings of civilian or humanitarian sites have occurred so far this week. This week's bombings come after a three-week bombing lull that preceded the Oct. 10 vote by the UN General Assembly to select new members to the Security Council. The Sudanese government made a strong bid to gain a position on the Security Council but was defeated in the final vote, in large measure because of the government of Sudan's abysmal human rights record.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees urges the U.S. government, the UN Security Council, and the UN General Assembly to officially condemn each aerial bombing in southern Sudan as soon as it occurs. Occasional criticisms of the bombings voiced by foreign policy makers are insufficient. The Sudanese government has bombed civilian or humanitarian sites in southern Sudan at least 67 times this year, and at least 132 times during the past two years, according to reports compiled by international aid workers in the field. At least 172 bombings have occurred during the past three years. Many additional bombings have gone unreported and uncounted.
More than 4 million Sudanese are uprooted—the largest uprooted population in the world. An estimated 2 million people have died of causes linked to Sudan's civil war. The conflict, now in its seventeenth year, is the longest uninterrupted civil war in the world. Peace talks between the Sudanese government and its opponents have virtually collapsed.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees is a private, nonprofit, humanitarian organization that works for the protection and assistance of uprooted people around the world.
