Global Policy Forum

By Nima Elbagir

Fighting in Sudan's central Shilluk area mirrors the burning and looting by militias in the west of Africa's largest country and there are signs of growing numbers of displaced, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday.

The United Nations has said 50,000 to 70,000 people have been displaced in Shilluk, compared to one million displaced in the western Darfur region, where the United Nations says the world's worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding. But Daniel Augstberger, senior emergency officer for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the number of displaced in Shilluk was growing, and unconfirmed local reports suggested up to 100,000 could now be homeless. "We have a situation which is almost a copycat of Darfur," he told Reuters. "However, it is not to the same magnitude but the system, the use of militias, is the same."

People in Shilluk, which should be covered by a ceasefire in the south of Sudan, have been driven from their homes by fighting between the army and pro-government militias and rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). The Islamic government in Khartoum and SPLA from the mainly Christian and animist south are close to finalising a peace deal to end 21 years of fighting that has claimed more than two million lives. But the fighting in Shilluk has disrupted the southern truce and hindered aid efforts to the region.

"We need access. It is taking quite some time in order to grant the travel permits," Augstberger said. U.N. and non-governmental groups in a consortium of relief organisations known as Operation Lifeline Sudan have been forced to suspend operations and relocate staff several times this year due to the conflict in Shilluk.

The crisis in Darfur has also been worsening. Rebels took up arms in remote Darfur last year accusing Khartoum of arming marauding Arab militias who loot and burn African villages. Khartoum denies the charge. British aid group Save the Children said on Thursday malnutrition rates in Darfur were among the world's worst and 1.8 million were in need of food aid there. Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs said on Thursday U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would visit Sudan next month to assess the situation in Darfur.

Analysts said the fighting in Shilluk followed senior Shilluk politician Lam Akol's decision in October 2003 to rejoin the SPLA more than 10 years after he broke from the movement. "This violence was triggered to ensure that if the leader changes sides, the territory that he controls remains on the same side, on the governmental side," Augstberger said. "The Shilluk kingdom is located in a strategic area along the Nile, it allows access to the south. We are aware of the strategic importance to both sides," he said.

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