Call for UN probe at Sudan border

Bishop Elnail told of the de­terioration in his home state, where there are reports of mass graves and serious crimes against civilians. He reported that churches and houses had been burnt down, and that his own house had been shot at. “As I speak now, the Catholic church in Kadugli is occupied by the military. And many people have been killed. They are culling people from house to house.”He said that members of his con­gregations had reported mass graves in the region, and warned that people in the Nuba Mountains, who supported South Sudan in the civil war, are being targeted by armies from Khartoum in the north. “There is a lot of killing going on, and we consider this is ethnic cleansing; so that is why we are calling on the UN and the Security Council to consider what is going on in Sudan.”The director of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, Richard Parkins, said last month that the reports “confirm what many have claimed: that the elimination of persons from this area [makes them] victims of genocide”.  Human-rights groups estimate that as many as 200,000 people have been displaced by fighting between Khar­toum’s army and pro-southern ele­ments in South Kordofan, after violence broke out on 5 June (News, 17 June).   The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote to the Government expressing the General Synod’s concern over the situation last month, after South Sudan was in­augu­rated.