News Article by AFP posted on August 29, 2000 at 15:10:03: EST (-5 GMT)
Bishops condemn bombing of civilian targets in Sudan
NAIROBI, Aug 29 (AFP) - Sudan's Roman Catholic bishops on
Tuesday
condemned Khartoum's continued bombing of civilian targets
and called on the
United Nations to monitor a ceasefire.
In a statement sent to AFP in Nairobi, the Sudan Catholic
Bishops'
Conference (SCBRC) expressed "deep and unanimous concern
for the continued
bombardment of civilian targets in the war-ravaged
region."
"We demand that the current ceasefire be strictly observed by
the warring
parties in the country and land corridors and military
'no-fly-zones' be
established to facilitate humanitarian activities
in the southern Sudan, the
Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile,"
the statement said.
The statement called for a strict UN monitoring and assessment
of the
ceasefire to avert violations that have characterised similar
initiatives in
the past.
"The UN, and not the government of Sudan, should be entrusted
with the
responsibility of monitoring and clearing flights to the
regions mentioned
above," the bishops said.
Last week, the United Nations announced it would end a
suspension of aid
flights into Sudan that was imposed on August 8
after aid agencies accused
Khartoum of stepping up bombing raids on
civilian targets.
The bishops also appealed to countries and multinationals to
immediately
end their oil production activities in Sudan.
"This is because the revenues generate the continuation of the
war that
will inevitably annihilate the people of southern Sudan,
Nuba Mountains and
Southern Blue Nile," the bishops warned.
Sudan's mainly Christian and animist southern rebels have been
fighting
Khartoum's successive Arab and Islamic governments since
1983 and were joined
in 1995 by northern opposition groups.