The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) attended a screening of the documentary ‘The Heart of Nuba’, followed by a Q&A with Dr Tom Catena (TC), the only remaining surgeon in the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan who lives in a hospital besieged by bombings, who joined the meeting via Skype, and Director and Producer Kenneth A. Carlson (KC), on 7 December. The meeting was organised by the Sudan and South Sudan APPG, in conjunction with the NGO Waging Peace.

The main points that arose from the film and the following discussion were:

• The documentary film, ‘The Heart of Nuba’, was filmed over a year and a half ago, and the situation has since deteriorated, and will most likely continue to deteriorate. The shelling of civilian areas by the Sudanese army has continued. There have been poor rains followed by a poor harvest in a region that relies on subsistence farming. This has increased the number of displaced people. The upcoming dry season will see an increase in violence by the Sudanese Government in the Nuba Mountains (TC).
• The psychological trauma being experienced by the population will have life-long ramifications, and there are no current provisions to address the psychological impact of the violence. Many people have difficulty coping and the trauma often manifests in outbursts of anger and rage, which makes it difficult to function. There are high levels of stress in the community (TC).
• Aid is increasingly important. and the medical centre is behind on providing vaccines. Humanitarian agencies must use aid and supply routes via South Sudan or Ethiopia rather than through Sudan, as the population does not trust the Sudanese Government (TC).
• The logistics of getting supplies to the medical centre is one of the biggest challenges. There is no transportation in the region, and many of the people who come to see TC will have walked about 5 days.
• TC has seen no evidence of chemical weapons being used in this region, although he is aware of the Amnesty International report on the possible use of chemical weapons in the Darfur area of Sudan. KC noted that this report is yet to be confirmed by other sources. TC remains on the lookout for relevant evidence of the use of chemical weapons in the Nuba Mountains. The documentary film showed TC photographing patients’ injuries and noting how they were injured to maintain a record.

 

 

 

 

The PHRG is extremely concerned by the deteriorating situation in Sudan and will continue to monitor the situation and will raise its concerns with relevant interlocutors.