Bombings continue to terrify villagers in southern Blue Nile

Civilians have dug covered holes to shelter from the falling bombs. Cover holes are found in schools and health centres while children hide in holes in the bushes where they herd the cattle.

The bomb hit
our house and the
children managed
to run to the holes.”
Hassan Juma

Villagers say Sudanese Antonov planes hover over suspected rebel-controlled villages almost every day.

Chief Hassan Juma recalled how his parents were burnt to death by an Antonov bomb in late April 2015. My old mother and father were inside their thatch hut when a Sudanese Antonov plane dropped the bomb over the village,” he says.

The bomb hit our house and the children managed to run to the holes before the bomb fell. My mother and father were old and could not run quickly to the hiding place,” he adds.

Another victim of the bombardment, who doesn’t want to disclose her identity, indicated sites where bombs fell, including a house with three thatched huts, which were completely burned to ground.

In this hut, a woman from neighbourhood visiting my family was almost killed. Luckily, she was sleeping on the ground. That is why bomb fragments missed her,” she explains.

A gathering of
civilians attracts
the Sudanese
war planes.”
Bashir Hammuda

Although the land is good for farming, there are rarely any farms up and running in many parts of southern Blue Nile. Most farmers have fled.

We are not able to clear our lands for farming, because a gathering of civilians attracts the Sudanese war planes to attack us,” says Bashir Hammuda, from the Jumjum tribe.

Southern Blue Nile citizens say that the rainy season has halted the danger posed by ground troops, but they remain on alert as Antonov planes continue to threaten them from above.