THE LOW growl of the Antonov aircraft used by the Sudanese air force is a sound Nada Rajeb will never forget.
It was 10 o’clock on a Saturday morning in September when the bomber aircraft circled over her village in Sudan’s troubled Blue Nile state before dropping its deadly cargo. When it flew off again, several were dead, including Nada’s parents, three brothers and one sibling’s pregnant wife.
When oil-rich South Sudan gained its independence in July after decades of civil war, the world cheered its newest state.
As the fledgling country experiences its own birth pangs, fighting continues in border states such as Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, is trying to crush rebels including the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) which had sided with South Sudan for years, only now to find themselves on the wrong side of the months-old border.
Caught in the middle are civilians such as Nada and her family. Her face pinched with grief, Nada recounts the long journey she undertook by foot with her aunt and uncle over the border to Ethiopia.
“We will stay here for as long as the war lasts,” she says in a low whisper. “No one knows when that will be.”
Tens of thousands of the Blue Nile state’s 1.2 million inhabitants have sought shelter in refugee camps such as Tongo, which is located close to where Sudan ends and Ethiopia begins.
The stream of arrivals, which began in early September, has increased since the towns of Kurmuk and Geissan fell to Sudanese government forces on November 4th, says Vicky Tennant of the UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency.
“An estimated 500 refugees are crossing the border every day and we expect that number to rise,” she adds.
The stories that tumble forth from the refugees in Tongo, which was visited by a delegation from the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs yesterday, include claims of government soldiers cutting off limbs and alleged Nigerian mercenaries in the pay of Khartoum running amok in Blue Nile.
“The worst is the Antonovs,” says Nasir Eldin Mahmoud, who admits he once fought for the SPLA-N. “There is no way we can compete with bombs falling from the sky.”
In recent days, tensions have ratcheted up even further with bullish comments by al-Bashir and his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir raising the spectre of a fresh all-out conflagration in the region.
Earlier this month Al-Bashir warned that if South Sudan, which he accuses of supporting the rebels, wants to return to war, his army is prepared. “We are ready to teach you another lesson,” he said.
Troop build-ups are being reported on both sides of the new boundary line.
Last week Khartoum was accused of sending military aircraft into South Sudan to conduct two bombing raids. In the second attack a refugee camp was struck. There were no casualties. Aid agencies warn that such incidents threaten to escalate what they say is already a significant humanitarian crisis.
Further complicating the situation is the emergence of a new rebel grouping, the Sudan Revolutionary Front, formed out of an alliance between the SPLA-N, Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and two factions of the Sudan Liberation Army.
Announcing its formation, the group said it believes al-Bashir’s government is now vulnerable on economic, political and military fronts.
Khartoum is grappling with a financial crisis due to the loss of oil revenue after South Sudan seceded, and spiralling food prices are beginning to bite.
The Sudan Revolutionary Front evoked the so-called Arab Spring to warn al-Bashir his time was nigh. “The regime is imploding and will vanish, like other corrupt regimes around us that have come to rely on repression to retain power,” it said, adding that it would co-ordinate military action and use all means to topple the ruling National Congress Party.
Figures including US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice have called on Khartoum and South Sudan to step back from what has become an extremely volatile situation.
“This is a moment where both sides need to show maximum restraint,” Ms Rice said. “In the first instance, the government of Sudan needs to halt all offensive actions against the South – immediately. And the South needs to have the wisdom and restraint not to take the bait and not to respond in kind.”
Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, is assisting in mediation efforts with the two governments.
Chair of the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs Fine Gael TD Pat Breen said the visiting delegation would be raising concerns over the escalating crisis when they meet Mr Zenawi in Addis Ababa later this week.