Thirteen Villages Burned in Sudan

Thirteen villages were deliberately burned across a 30-square mile area in the Nuba Mountains between November 17 and November 22, 2012, according to a new Satellite Sentinel Project, or SSP, report.

The DigitalGlobe imagery, which is available in full resolution on Flickr, confirms media reports of the attacks, which Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM-N, spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi attributed to militia aligned with the government of Sudan’s National Congress Party.

SSP has previously reported on numerous village razings, including those carried out by forces aligned with the Government of Sudan, including recently documented incidents in the villages of Um Bartumbu and Gardud al Badry.

The 13 villages shown in this report were near the town of al Abassiya, in the northeastern part of the war-torn border region of South Kordofan, Sudan. Before-and-after satellite imagery shows visible burn scars covering a 30-mile area, approximately half the size of Washington, DC.

This report adds to the mounting evidence of the government of Sudan using the "scorched earth" tactics it employed in Darfur and South Kordofan, while blockading humanitarian relief to the Nuba people in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Read the full report: "Scorched Earth Near al Abassiya"

Photo: Satellite imagery of burned area in al Hoi,South Kordofan,Sudan, taken November 26, 2012 (DigitalGlobe)