We Are the Custodians of Our Brothers and Sisters

July 2011

A Bishop is a shepherd, and as such I feel that I am responsible to protect my flock and defend their rights. In this case, I appeal to you to stand by me and save the Nuba population from the present tragedy which is gaining momentum day by day. The International Community should not close its eyes and repeat the words of Cain after having killed his brother Abel: "Am I the custodian of my brother?". The more the International community shies away from tackling the issue of the Nuba, the more the situation will become a tragedy and many are already terming it ethnic cleansing.

Khartoum is amassing a huge number of troops around South Kordofan after having lost the entire South Sudan and its oil wealth. Khartoum definitely does not want to lose the Nuba Mountains as well as Abyei and Darfur. It is not the love and the goodness of the President of Sudan that generously accepted the Independence of South Sudan. In my view, he had no alternative under the CPA. He is playing well his chess game. He shares whatever is to be shared from the oil revenue with the Republic of South Sudan but he is banking on the future wealth in the Nuba Mountains, Abyei and Darfur.

Presently, The Regime in Khartoum has amassed more than forty to fifty thousand troops in South Kordofan to subjugate the Nuba by force. These troops are using brutal torture, rape, extra-judicial killing and aerial bombardment of innocent villagers. They have renewed planting of land mines. They have declared Jihad against the Nuba population and have closed all roads of food supply. Starving people in order to subjugate them is immoral and inhuman. Brutal torture, rape, extra-judicial killing, and aerial bombardment of the villagers is inhumane.

I warn the International Community that once the Nuba people have finished the little stored food, they will face and experience a tragic famine just as the one being witnessed today in Somalia and in Northern Kenya. The nightmare of the upcoming famine will be caused by the present poor rainy season in the Nuba Mountains, the fear of cultivating due to insecurity caused by the aerial bombardment and by attacks of Khartoum's soldiers. I am not a prophet but I see facts as a person who has lived such experience prior to the ceasefire for the Nuba Mountains which was signed in Buergenstock - Switzerland in the year 2000. I simply cannot understand or accept that people be robbed of their dignity which is expressed in their God-given human rights.

The Church has the obligation to denounce and condemn the extermination of entire ethnic groups. The Church also invites all people of good-will to stand up and defend the dignity of peoples. The International Community should not condone or keep silent in the face of such crimes. Silence is a tacit approval of evil. The aerial bombardment is perpetrated on the unarmed and innocent civilians. Above all, the vulnerable groups: the children, the women and the elderly. I am attaching some photos to show that the victims of the aerial bombardment are children, women and elderly. Some of the photos might be too brutal to be viewed by some people. The suffering of children who are God's greatest gift to humanity reminds us of Rachel's mourning: "Thus says the Lord: In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning, of bitter weeping! Rachel mourns her children, she refuses to be consoled because her children are no more". (Jeremiah 31:15).

For your information, I came to understand from the official spokesman of the SPLA in the Nuba Mountains that the government of Khartoum has already started bringing Janjaweed from Chad and Niger. Some of these Janjaweed have already arrived. Mercenaries belonging to Al-Shabaab movement in Somalia are being recruited to go and fight besides Khartoum troops in the Nuba Mountains. Their presence has been confirmed in Kassala on the border with Eritrea. They are preparing for their departure to El Obeid. Recently, Ahmed Haroun who was elected as governor of Southern Kordofan in a disputed election requested that the SPLA should return all the military vehicles, arms and ammunition or else he will order the use of chemical weapons at his disposal (It is worth noting that Ahmed Haroun is wanted by the ICC tribunal in the Hague for his crimes against humanity in Darfur). On July 18, the antenov bomber bombed the health center in Ladu. On the same day, they dropped bombs on Kerkeraya killing two young boys aged thirteen and fifteen.

To date Kadugli which is the capital of South Kordofan is divided between the SPLA and the troops of Khartoum. I am quite sure that the forces of Khartoum, being unable to subdue the Nuba, will use two lethal weapons: either starvation of the Nuba or the use of chemical weapons which are in their possession.

The regime in Khartoum even armed the Nuer rebel named Peter Gadet and asked to attack the Nuba forces. The Nuer is a tribe of South Sudan. It is to be remembered that Peter Gadet refused to join the rest of the SPLA in the South and refused to accept the declaration of Independence for South Sudan. The troops of Peter Gadet were dispersed and their commander Thomas Biel with eleven of his soldiers lost their lives.

I hope the International Community will move fast to save the Nuba from eminent destruction. There is no possible material time to waste on discussion, procrastination and deliberation. While all this is being done, my people are suffering and dying. A drowning person needs to be saved immediately otherwise he or she perishes.

I launch my appeal in the hope quick action is taken to save our brothers and sisters in humanity and I hope also not to hear the words of Cain being repeated to me: "Am I the custodian of my brother?". (Genesis 4:9).

God bless you.

+Macram Max Gassis
Bishop of El Obeid Diocese (Nuba Mountains, Abyei and Darfur)