October 14, 2009
War in Sudan - Not only Darfur
by Filip Ericsson
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: When the subject of war in Sudan comes up, Darfur automatically springs to mind. But the situation is far more complicated than that. Sudan has been at war for most of its 53 years of independence, and the Darfur conflict, which erupted in 2003, is just a new addition to the web of civil strife that has infected Sudanese society from the very start of its existence.
Fighting and the number of killings have slightly decreased in Darfur over the last couple of years, albeit far from resembling any form of peace. Now it is the forgotten civil war of South Sudan which once more is becoming the focus of conflict in the country, with number of violent deaths in the region outnumbering those in Darfur in 2009.
"[This] has proved to be a particularly difficult year in the South," says researcher Oystein H. Rolandsen of International Peace Research Institute (PRIO) in Oslo.
More than 2,000 people have died and 250,000 have been displaced in inter-ethnic violence across Southern Sudan since January, UN Deputy Resident Coordinator in Southern Sudan Lise Grande, told the press on August 12. These staggering numbers reveal a tragedy that has passed the eyes of the Western media practically unseen.
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