REPORT ABOUT FAMINE IN NUBA MOUNTAINS

Report: Kadaru Mountains – Forced Displacement and Imposed Siege (1)

✓ Militias target villages where inhabitants of Habilla and Tetel have fled.
✓ Spread of diseases and malnutrition among children.
✓ Mass displacement and a large number of missing civilians.
✓ Army in Dalami garrison refrains from rescuing civilians.
✓ Civilians call for urgent humanitarian intervention.

Report by: Fadil Sanhouri
Date: July 23, 2024

The Kadaru Mountains region in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan is experiencing a massive forced displacement campaign, which amounts to ethnic cleansing. This involves burning villages, killing farmers, and abducting women and girls to seize agricultural land by the Messiria militias allied with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This area is strategically significant as it serves as an entry point to the Nuba Mountains, particularly Dilling and Kadugli.

This serialized report sheds light on these violations and the forced displacement and siege imposed on the Kadaru region in the Nuba Mountains.

  1. Introduction: Kadaru Mountains – History and Demographics

According to Professor Mohamed Adkon, a native of the region, the Kadaru Mountains are home to an indigenous Nuba ethnic group, part of the Ajang tribe in the Nuba Mountains. They migrated from the ancient kingdom of Alodia (Alwa), with its capital at Soba. Adkon records that after the conspiracy against the people of the Kingdom of Alodia in 1504, this group migrated to the Kordofan region and settled at Mount Aulibga in current northern Kordofan. They then moved to their current location in the northeastern part of the Nuba Mountains.

The Kadaru Mountains were initially the capital of the Ajang group before it shifted to Dilling, named after their ancestor Bel Kadaru. The region comprises seven clans: Kudor, Karl, Kondal, Tagli, Kair, Nagkolr, and Berco. They speak the Nilo-Saharan language, and the administration is led by the “Mak” (chief) of all chiefs, currently Mak Hussein Hassan Qadarbi.

Researchers note that the administration in the Kadaru group is very cohesive, with each clan led by a single chief and several sheikhs. The main Kadaru clan has three chiefs, serving as the spiritual center for the Ajang group (known as Kajur or Aro).

The Kadaru Mountains are strategically located, bordered by Al-Qoz locality to the north, Dilling to the west, Jabal Al-Dayer to the east, and the Kawalib and Ansho tribes to the south. Its strategic importance lies in the geographical path through which the “Street of the Wind” and the seasonal route from Al-Obeid to Habilla and Kadugli pass. This is the migration route for the Baggara nomads in their seasonal movements north during the rainy season and south during the dry season.

The Kadaru people, who are currently being forcibly displaced by the Messiria militias, aim to find solutions for the displaced cattle resulting from wars they have initiated in collaboration with the RSF. They are seeking the agricultural areas of the Kadaru Mountains, as the Kadaru people’s economy relies on agriculture and livestock. The region has an estimated population of 2,000.

  1. Imposed Siege and Starvation

Information from the Kadaru Mountains, northeast of Habilla, indicates severe humanitarian and security conditions. The situation is critical due to ongoing raids and attacks on villages and civilians by the Messiria militias and RSF. After being defeated by civilians and rebels, the militias regrouped in the Dubiker area and some surrounding settlements near Al-Rijoul and Khor Abu Habil, launching raids and attacks on villages using motorcycles and cars.

Following the tragic events in the region and the catastrophe affecting the Kadaru people and the displaced civilians since the events of Laqwa and Al-Yawak in 2020, and Dilling and Karkal, as well as the villages of Habilla and Tetel since January 2024, the region has undergone three stages of displacement. Initially, they fled from Habilla and Tetel, then from Tetel to Al-Rijoul, from Al-Rijoul to Al-Tabaldi and Kartala, and now they have moved to Al-Layouna, Al-Taliq, and Al-Rajila. After these areas were burned, they moved south to the foothills and caves of the Kadaru Mountains and Al-Sareef. They are now living in makeshift shelters under the sky after their villages were burned.

  1. Security Situation and Attacks on Civilians

The militias encircle the Kadaru Mountains and carry out raids and attacks on the outskirts of villages, killing farmers and civilians traveling between villages. Since July 5, 2024, the region has witnessed repeated retaliatory attacks by Messiria militias and RSF, following their recent defeat and expulsion from Al-Rijoul and Kartala villages. The attacks aim to loot, kill civilians, take hostages, and demand ransom.

Civilians have been relocated away from areas under continuous militia attacks, and local authorities have decided to move civilians to relatively safer areas in the foothills of the Kadaru Mountains. However, civilians had to move without any possessions after their villages were burned.

The security situation remains dire, and civilians and local defense forces have called on the Dalami garrison to provide ammunition, weapons, and fuel, but the garrison has not responded.

  1. Critical Humanitarian Situation and Starvation

The current humanitarian situation and continuous attacks over the past month, resulting in many deaths, signal a looming disaster. More than 360 families from six villages in the Kadaru Mountains, northeast of Habilla, have been displaced. These villages include Al-Rijoul, Dabatna, Al-Alayq, Mak Kamil, Al-Halilah, Al-Rajila, Al-Hafir, Kartala, Al-Layouna, and Kaliji.

Civilians face severe famine and lack of food, relying on tree leaves, fruits, and bark for sustenance. The markets in the region, such as Al-Rijoul and Tetel markets, have been closed, and the only operating market is in Kartala, which lacks essential supplies. The price of a bushel of sorghum has reached 5,000 pounds, with no liquidity, extreme poverty among the displaced.

Civilians are currently living in overcrowded camps made of straw huts, with no tarpaulins or health units, and infestations of insects and snakes.

The humanitarian emergency committee, led by Atta Jaber, has contacted several institutions and groups, receiving financial contributions from the Nuba Mountains Defense Committee and Kadaru diaspora. The committee traveled to Kauda in the liberated areas under the SPLM-North, meeting with local humanitarian organizations that provided emergency aid, including tarpaulins, medicines, and blankets, but it did not meet the vast and growing needs of the displaced.

  1. Forced Displacement and Resettlement

The systematic displacement in the Kadaru Mountains resembles the forced displacement of the Nuba people from Laqwa and Al-Yawak in 2020. With the onset of the current war on April 14, 2023, the Kadaru Mountains became the second area to experience forced displacement and resettlement during this war, after Jabal Al-Dayer. Entire villages were relocated, markets were burned, and civilians fled to other areas.

  1. Challenges and Priorities

Currently, civilians face enormous challenges, including lack of security, food scarcity, starvation, malnutrition among children, and the absence of protection against violence, abductions, and the trafficking of girls. Health services are severely lacking, with no vaccines, medicines, or treatment for critical cases, and the army garrison in Dalami has not assisted local resistance, which is currently the sole force resisting the militia’s aggression.

Displaced civilians remain in makeshift shelters and caves, some spread in forests under trees, coexisting with snakes, mosquitoes, and insects, with no access to food or medicine.

We will continue with parts 2 and 3, presenting statements from local administrations, victims, and humanitarian and emergency relief officials in the region.

Fadil Sanhouri
July 22, 2024

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