Accessibility links

Breaking News

Monitoring Group: Sudan Forces Burn, Loot Village


A Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel soldier looks out toward Talodi, in South Kordofan, a region of Sudan on April 25, 2012.
A Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel soldier looks out toward Talodi, in South Kordofan, a region of Sudan on April 25, 2012.
A U.S.-based watchdog group that tracks atrocities in Sudan says it has evidence Sudanese security forces burned and looted a village in the war-torn state of Southern Kordofan.

The Satellite Sentinel Project, or SSP, has released satellite images, cell phone video and witness accounts that it says support its claim.

The group says Sudanese police, soldiers and a militia razed the village of Gardud al Badry in May of this year, then returned to bombard it with artillery in late July.

The village is in the Nuba mountains region, where rebels have been fighting the Khartoum government since June of last year.

Sudan's embassy in Washington released a statement Tuesday saying the SSP is "fabricating and sensationalizing stories against the government of Sudan" while failing to comment on attacks by the rebels.

The SSP says the campaign is part of a pattern of "indiscriminate attacks" by the government of Sudan that amount to crimes against humanity.

It said video of the destroyed village was shot by the "Abu Tira" police force. The SSP obtained the video and posted it online Tuesday.



Another rebellion broke out in Sudan's Blue Nile state last year. Clashes in the two states have displaced hundreds of thousands of people, with many fleeing to nearby South Sudan.

Sudan accuses its southern neighbor of supporting the rebels, a charge South Sudan denies.

The group involved in both rebellions, the SPLM-North, is an offshoot of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which fought for the south during Sudan's long civil war.

The war ended in 2005, and South Sudan became independent last year. The two Sudans remain at odds over oil and border issues, though some disputes were settled in a deal reached late last month.
  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG