South Sudan’s Agony – The New York Times

The NYT editorial ends:

“The United States recently pledged an additional $133 million in humanitarian assistance. Beyond that, the administration must continue to actively push the warring sides to the table, whether through direct diplomacy, by supporting the mediating efforts of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the East African regional grouping, or through the imposition of progressively tighter travel bans and asset freezes on those most responsible for the atrocities. Carrying the major responsibility for the creation of South Sudan, the United States must also bear a special responsibility to help end the country’s agony.”

via South Sudan’s Agony – The New York Times.

A Toddler’s Death in a Foxhole – Nicholas Kristof, the NY Times

“IN THE NUBA MOUNTAINS, Sudan — It’s not clear whether the Sudanese Air Force was trying to bomb the village of grass huts, or the girls high school next to it. Hamida Osman, 23, simply knew that a Sukhoi fighter jet was roaring toward her village. She grabbed her only child, Safarina, 2, and jumped into the foxhole that the family had built for those frequent occasions when Sudan decides to bomb its people.”

via A Toddler’s Death in a Foxhole – The New York Times.

Saint Nicholas Kristof, ‘He’s Jesus Christ’, IN THE NUBA MOUNTAINS, Sudan

“IN THE NUBA MOUNTAINS, Sudan — IF you subscribe to the caricature of devout religious believers as mostly sanctimonious hypocrites, the kind who rake in cash and care about human life only when it is unborn, come visit the doctor here.

Dr. Tom Catena, 51, a Catholic missionary from Amsterdam, N.Y., is the only doctor at the 435-bed Mother of Mercy Hospital nestled in the Nuba Mountains in the far south of Sudan. For that matter, he’s the only doctor permanently based in the Nuba Mountains for a population of more than half a million people.”

‘He’s Jesus Christ’

Most of the world has abandoned the civilians being bombed daily in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. But Dr. Tom Catena saves lives there daily.

nytimes.com|By Nicholas Kristof

As South Sudan Crisis Worsens, ‘There Is No More Country’ – The New York Times

MALAKAL, South Sudan — In places where the fighting is fiercest, no one is even attempting to count the dead.

Nearly half the population of the world’s newest nation, South Sudan, is in danger of going hungry. New atrocities are reported almost every day. And more than 1.5 million people have fled their homes, the vast majority to swampland villages where they hope rising waters during the rainy season will keep them safe from marauding soldiers.

“There is no more country,” said John Khamis, 38, who has spent much of his nation’s existence sheltered in a camp on a United Nations base. “I don’t know how the fighting stops now.”

It has been less than two years since a power struggle between the nation’s leaders plunged South Sudan into chaos, inflaming old ethnic tensions that almost immediately tore this new country apart.

Despite repeated attempts at peace, some of the deadliest fighting of the civil war has erupted in the last few months.

The warring leaders are unflinchingly entrenched in their positions, and the kinds of abuses that shocked the world early in the conflict, including the use of child soldiers and deliberate attacks on civilians, are reoccurring with new ferocity.

As South Sudan Crisis Worsens, ‘There Is No More Country’ – The New York Times.

Tristan McConnell, New Republic: There is a horrible civil war between Sudan and the rebels in the Nuba Mountains, with atrocities by the Sudanese Army against the civilian population

I was enjoying my first Sunday after Europe with a copy of the Sunday edition of the NY Times. An article by Nicholas Kristof on the civil war between Sudan and the Nuba Mountain rebels made little sense, until I realized that I couldn’t see Saint Nich’s links to background information. Thanks to Google, here is some background info, to understand Kristof’s depressing op-ed, “A Rain of Bombs,” which only describes horrible atrocities to non-combatants. I will bet a penny that the online version of the op-ed has links to such information.

The Next Darfur?

In Sudan’s Rebel-Held Nuba Mountains, War Rages On

newrepublic.com

video by Andrew Berends is magical, war in South Sudan

David Lindsay

I don’t follow the Sudan, for no good reason. The simplicity of this video by Andrew Berends is magical. I wonder if the civil war in Sudan has climate change as a cause?

Video: Toys of War

In a South Sudanese refugee camp, children make a dollhouse to tell their story of war.

nytimes.com|By Andrew Berends