A woman carries her severely malnourished child at a clinic in Doro refugee camp in South Sudan, on March 9, 2012. Refugees fled fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, across the border into South Sudan. REUTERS/Hereward Holland
NAIROBI (AlertNet) - The U.N. World Food Programme announced a ?major breakthrough? Thursday as it delivered food aid to Sudan?s war-torn Blue Nile state for the first time since conflict began there 18 months ago.
The government had previously refused to allow the U.N. to deliver emergency aid to the area, saying it will be used to feed fighters. Activists have said that malnutrition rates among children under five in the region are 30 percent, double the emergency threshold.
WFP aims to provide 51,000 people in government-controlled Kurmuk and Geissan with two months? worth of food, while also carrying out assessments in four other areas it hopes to supply in future.
?While we continue to strive for access to all areas, this is still a major breakthrough which will enable us to assist those who continue to be displaced by the conflict or those who have decided to return to their homes and are in dire need of food assistance," WFP Sudan director Adnan Khan said in a statement.
Sudan?s stance towards rebels in its border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile appears to be softening following a March 8 deal with neighbouring South Sudan. The two countries agreed to a timeframe to withdraw troops from their disputed 2,000-km (1,200-mile) border, which should help relieve long-held fears that each side is backing the other?s rebels.
Weeks later, Sudan made its first offer to hold direct talks with rebels of the Sudan People?s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. It also invited them to take part in drafting a new constitution.
The SPLM-N was allied to South Sudanese rebels - who now have their own government in Juba - when they were fighting Khartoum during Sudan?s 1983-to-2005 civil war. The 2005 peace deal left the SPLM-N inside Sudan, and they took up arms again when South Sudan seceded in mid-2011.
REBEL GAINS
With neither side able to defeat the other militarily, negotiations appear to be the only way forward.
However, a new report by the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey (SAS) says faith in peace talks is ?weaker than ever?, and trust between the old enemies is ?virtually non-existent?. The rebels now see war as the only way of fulfilling their goal of winning greater autonomy or outright independence, it says.
The SPLM-N in South Kordofan has made ?significant gains? since the war reignited, reducing the government?s military superiority to the skies, SAS said.
?The military balance in the Nuba Mountains after a year of war appears to favour the SPLM-N,? the report said. ?Many observers say the rebels know the territory better, are highly motivated, and have better training than the SAF [Sudan Armed Forces]-affiliated militias.?
Government bombing of rebel areas has not led to military advances, the report notes, although it has terrorised and displaced hundreds and thousands of people.
The 30,000 SPLM-N fighters in South Kordofan have strengthened their hand by capturing army weapons, ammunition stockpiles and military trucks. They no longer require external arms supplies, the report said.
The SPLM-N has also benefitted from the support of some 700 to 1,000 fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a rebel group based in Darfur.
?JEM has provided crucial support to rebels in South Kordofan and its involvement has proved decisive in key battles,? the report said, highlighting JEM?s 120 vehicles as critical.
The late-2011 creation of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, a coalition which brings together the SPLM-N, JEM and other Darfuri rebel groups, has strengthened their position, although observers say there is little chance of them launching a major military offensive against Khartoum.
Even so, the government?s priority is ?preventing local demands from coalescing into a national struggle that might gain international traction?, the report says.
Making piecemeal concessions might be a good way to do that.
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Source: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/sudan-govt-allows-aid-in-as-rebels-make-military-gains
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