CRISISBOOM

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, center, waves to the crowd during a visit to North Kordofan state Feb. 8. Celebrations for a new nation rippled throughout Southern Sudan as election officials confirmed that nearly 99 percent of voters in the referendum had chosen independence. (CNS photo/Reuters)

A major humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Sudan’s oil-producing South Kordofan state, with church and humanitarian officials saying some 300,000 persons are trapped, cut off from relief aid and unable to flee fighting between forces of the Sudanese government and members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the former rebel group based in Southern Sudan.

In recent days, there have been growing reports of civilians fleeing to the Nuba mountains in South Kordofan, where officials of the Sudan Council of Churches say civilians are, according to one source, “being hunted down like animals by Read more…