In addition to the atrocities by soldiers on the ground against Nuba civilians, the SAF has also been using sophisticated air power against the civilian population. They use Mig fighter jets, planes they bought from Russia, to bomb the civilians of Southern Kordofan. The bombing takes place every single day, and the bombs are not targeting military installations. They're falling in residential areas where only houses of mud and grass could be seen from the air. The bombings have killed far more civilians than SPLA soldiers, and this has driven 200,000 people into caves in the mountains. 20,000 people have walked over a week to reach a refugee camp in South Sudan. My wife is at one of those camps now. The people that have been displaced into the mountains started moving down the mountains at night to get water and firewood, but since July the SAF has started bombing at 1:00 or 2:00 am. This is terrorizing the people. They are scared to come down from the mountains to do what is required to live.
As a result of the ground fighting and the bombing, a large majority of the civilians have not been able to plant. The Nuba people rely heavily on the crops that they are able to grow in the 4-month rainy season. This year many people did not have the chance to plant and this is contributing to the ever-growing humanitarian crisis.
In Part Two of the interview, Ryan will discuss how he has partnered with American agencies to get the word out about Bashir's aggression against his own people.
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